Jurassic Park: Cretaceous Calamity
by J.Caesar
Summary: Alan Grant, Ian Malcolm and Arie Vliegenthart are abducted and brought to Las Cinco Muertes. Although their captor believes everything is well arranged, experience has learned that safety is not guaranteed. Once again things turn for the worse as unexpected dinosaurs and unexpected people keep showing up and threaten the life of everyone involved. (Time Set between JP3&JW.)
1. Prologue

**Hi everyone! I'm really enthusiastic about Jurassic Park one, two and three and I look forward to number four. But of course, I cannot wait so I've thought of a story of my own. I have to warn you however, I'm a slow writer and don't always have time for writing. Anyways, the story will commence now, have fun.**

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**Prologue**

The water was bashing against the hull of the Nelly as she crashed her way through the aggressive ocean. Five metre tidal waves threw themselves at the bow and the wind whistled around the bridge. The captain looked out on the deck, both hands tightly around the steering wheel in order to retain control over his precious vessel as best he could. With a ragged beard and an old pipe in his mouth he appeared to be an experienced sailor. Outside he heard shouting of the mariners that were checking and strapping the cargo on the top deck, occasionally bracing themselves for another pounding of the seawater. The captain prayed to all sea gods that they would spare him and his crew. The door slammed open and a drenched figure stepped into the room.

"How is the cargo holding?" the captain demanded.

"Fairly good so far." the first mate replied.

"Did we lose anything else?"

"No, I don't think we have."

When the storm had arisen, they hadn't been able to tie up all freight in time and lost three crates. Luckily the crew performed excellent under pressure and they hadn't had any more losses since. The mate took off his jacket and wrung it out, to the dismay of the bearded man. The latter took out his pipe and blew some smoke at the other.

"Don't do that in here, you'll make the floor slippery."

The addressed man shrugged and put his coat back on.

"At this rate it won't be long before everything will be underwater anyway."

The captain started chewing on the tip of his pipe and reluctantly admitted things weren't looking good. He had insisted to take off from Costa Rica that morning, because he doubted the fact that the storm might bend off south to intercept their route. Now he, his ship and his crew had to pay the price for his stubbornness. It wouldn't be long until the wind would rip through the cargo's strappings. Everything would start to slide and probably cause severe damage, resulting in a sunken ship. That is, of course, if the boat hadn't capsized before then.

"We have to do something, else we're all done for. Take the wheel."

The captain only let go after he was sure that his first mate held on firm. He walked over to a case that was lying in the corner and he opened the lock with a key he had on a rope around his neck. He retrieved a map from the trunk, closed it again and placed the map on top of it. He shoved the trunk to near the steering wheel so the mate could see it as well.

"This is where we are now, you see?" he asked.

The other man grunted, fighting to steer the boat properly through the maze of tidal waves. He looked at where his superior was pointing and nodded.

"We can't turn back…" the shipmaster continued, "… so the best we can do is go to these islands."

The first mate's eyes grew larger as he read the name: _Las Cinco Muertes_.

"Doesn't that mean…"

"I know what it means, but do you have a better idea?"

He switched his pipe from one corner of his mouth to the other, but the first mate wasn't convinced yet.

"Wouldn't that be equally dangerous?"

"No, listen. We just need to the protection of the centre of the archipelago to be protected from the giant waves. We will hardly get near the islands."

He gave in and the captain took over the wheel again, setting course for the five deaths. The storm had almost reached a climax. The chinstraps were buzzing in the eighty kilometre per hour wind. He didn't even believe it to be possible, but even more water was splashing over the sides of the Nelly as she came about.

"It says here that it is highly restricted area." the mate said in one last attempt to reconsider their heading.

"Well, if we survive it all, I am more than willing to pay a fee!" the old hand laughed.

.

After an hour, the Nelly was close to the bay of protection, but the storm had already taken a large toll. Two members of the crew had been flushed overboard and they had lost an additional four crates. The wind was still whizzing around the ship, but the currents had steadily reduced as they had gotten closer the islands. The first mate reappeared on the bridge with an exhausted face and the captain himself was no different. Both were glad the worst was over.

"Now, we will just get a little further and then we wait for the storm to subside, correct?"

"Yes, it appears we manage to outrun death once again, ha-ha!" the shipmaster laughs.

Then suddenly a big tremor rolled across the ship and the moaning sound of bending iron could be heard. The men ran outside and looked over the side to see what had happened. Everywhere the crewmembers were yelling, panicked and confused. The Nelly had crashed into something, but nobody could distinguish what it was in the roiling water underneath them. Despite the vessel seemed to have obliterated the obstacle, a large hole in the bow caused the ship to slowly descent into the dark mass before them.

"We have to abandon the ship!" the captain screamed.

Everywhere people passed on the message and the life rafts were let into the water. The front quarter of the Nelly was already submerged when most got on the dinghies. The men looked at their ship shoving into the depth. Some men were floating in the water, but were being hoisted into the lifeboats, when suddenly a sailor screamed in agony. He got smothered as he was pulled underwater.

"What was that?!"

"I don't know!"

Everyone, even those in the water looked around in silence when another human vanished into the infinite deep with a death cry. Then panic broke out as more were violently snatched from the surface and the swimmers tried desperately to get to safety as quickly as possible. The chaos was increased even more as one of the rubber floaters toppled because too many had been leaning on one side.

"Calm yourselves men! We need to get to the shore as fast as we can!" the captain commanded.

The water had turned red with blood, but then just as suddenly as it had shown up, the subaqueous threat vanished. The captain ordered the remaining lifeboats to load everyone as safely as possible. He pointed at the island in the distance.

"That island is our only way to survive, once there we can …"

But he could not finished his sentence as something big slammed against the underside of the raft and threw all of its occupants into the water. The dinghies hurried to pick up the drowning people. The first mate called for the captain multiple times… no-one responded. Once everyone was aboard a vessel, they started to paddle for the shore as quickly as they could, hoping to arrive before 'it' struck again.

_End of the prologue_


	2. One

_**This is where the story begins. I hope you liked the Prologue! Have fun reading.**_

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**Chapter 1**

The clock struck three times. Alan opened his eyes and realized he overslept. After his flight to San Francisco and arrival at the hotel he had had the urge for some sleep and since it had been more than 2 hours before his taxi was to arrive he had made himself comfortable in the chair, thereby closing his eyes. Unfortunately, time had passed quicker than he had hoped and now he had only fifteen minutes left. He took a quick shower and started to put on his suit. On the TV, a newsreader was going through the recent events.

"As market prices have risen even more today, people wonder whether they will ever drop again. We now go to Tom, Tom can you hear us?"

"Crystal clear."

"Now Tom, what can you tell us…"

As the conversation between the two men on TV continued, Alan was fighting to get his tie in its proper folding. While doing so, he noticed a few small holes in the sleeve of his suit. During the time it spent unused in his closet, it had apparently suffered from moths. He checked the rest of his clothing, but apart from the three holes on the bottom of his arm all was intact. He sighed, it was too late to get a new one anyway.

"Thank you Tom. Now in other news, a cargo ship that departed from Costa Rica yesterday has vanished off the radar. Authorities suspect the crew might have been surprised by -"

The newsreader was interrupted as Alan turned off the television. He felt in his pocket whether he had his invitation. Check. He opened the door to the hallway and looked at the coatrack. Would he take his hat? He thought for a second and decided to leave it. But as he walked towards the staircase he felt naked, so he went back to pick up his trusty hat. When he got in the lobby, an annoyed taxi driver was in discussion with the receptionist. When he saw Alan, he left the man behind the desk without even saying goodbye and unleashed his irritation on the doctor.

"Doctor Grant I assume? You are late, I have another guest to pick up and if you are late so am I and I don't want to be late!"

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Alan's witty riposte didn't strike the man as amusing and he preceded towards the cab in silence. The palaeontologist said goodbye to the porter and got in the cab. The chauffeur closed the door behind him and rushed to the driver seat. He glanced a last time at the doctor through the mirror and then drove the vehicle to its second destination.

.

The yellow car stopped in front of another hotel. Alan inspected the building through the window as the taxi driver went in for the other passenger. It looked more expensive than his own, but he didn't care much. If he would've subsidized his trip himself he wouldn't have done it differently. Rather had he paid for it all himself, but the people from the dig insisted that he deserved it as a token of appreciation. Even though they insisted, Alan didn't want to double the debts they already had, so he persuaded them to choose a modest hotel. The chauffeur came back with an old man of whom he was carrying the bag. The car door opened and the elder sat down next to him and took the bag on his lap. The man wasn't exactly skinny, but there was no perspective from which he could look fat. He wore a small pair of glasses with eyes that stared back joyfully. He was bold, except for a half circle of grey-white hairs from ear to ear over the back of his head.

"Good evening sir!" he greeted heartily.

"Good evening." Alan replied with a timid smile.

"Also on your way to the convention?"

Alan suspected that the driver already told him this so just nodded without further elaboration and returned the question.

"Of course, of course. I've been looking forward to it, haven't you? It always nice to see what old things have been discovered lately. I've retired a couple of years back you see, Marine Reptile expert I was. Well still am if I may put it that way. I've continued lecturing at the university of Amsterdam. Have you ever been to Amsterdam?"

Dr Grant, who was slightly overwhelmed by the incredibly large flow of words that suddenly filled the tight chamber, got back to his senses as the car started moving.

"I must say I haven't had the pleasure."

"Well, lovely town I can give you that. Town, what nonsense, city. Great city, capital of The Netherlands to be precise. There is a lot that you can visit there, for instance …"

The elder caught sight of Alan's uninterested look and changed the subject.

"I'm sorry, I'm blabbering too much again. I'm just always so excited about the congress. Allow me to introduce myself: Professor Arie Vliegenthart."

"Vliegenthart? The famous Dutch specialist on marine reptiles?"

"Oh no-no-no-no! Try something like: Flee-Kent-Heart. That should pretty much cover it. I forgot you English-talking folk are not so good with my name."

"But you are …"

"Yes, one and the same."

"I'm sorry, where are my manners. Grant, doctor Alan Grant."

They shook hands in a gentle manner.

"I already suspected as much. With that hat you had to be either Indiana Jones or Alan Grant, but I suppose the first has nothing to do with dinosaurs."

As the two men laughed the driver rolled his eyes and sighed, palaeontologists and their humour were not meant for him. He pulled over at a large building and parked in front of the entrance. A porter opened the back door and helped the two get out of the cab.

"Welcome to the Dinosaur convention, please follow the red carpet and everything will show itself."

Alan and Arie followed the signs to end up at the check-in desk. They flashed their invitation tickets, left their coats at the cloakroom. Alan reluctantly gave away his hat. When they entered the large hall, many of their colleagues had already formed small groups, conversing heavily. Vliegenthart clapped his hands together and rubbed them in joy. He couldn't wait to get started. He shook hands with dr. Grant again and they went their separate ways to meet old acquaintances. After a while all researchers, dino-fans and whomever more were invited, were guided into the huge lecture room and where the talks were to be given. The subjects varied from high-tech scanning devices to newly discovered patterns in herbivore feeding behaviour. With some speakers more enthusiastic than others, malfunctioning beamers and questions that either led to agreement or discussion, it was a congress like all others. Time had passed quickly and after three hours of palaeontology, a break was in order. Everyone went back to the hall, where meanwhile, a buffet had been put up. After all knowledge makes hungry and it was about dinnertime.

"Doctor Grant!"

Alan took a bite of his cracker with French cheese and turned around. An old man with a rough beard, large glasses and a cane walked up to him. As soon as he recognized him, he felt the urge to run away.

"Doctor Grant, so nice we meet again. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

It was John Hammond who had cleared a path through the crowd to greet him with a cheerful smile.

"Mr Hammond, what are you doing here? Weren't you…"

"Fired, yes, yes, but that doesn't avert me from getting to know more about dinosaurs, does it?"

He laughed, but this turned into coughing.

"You´ve had better days haven´t you Mr Hammond?"

"John, please."

"Okay, John."

"Let's say my physician determined that I've passed my warranty period."

He coughed again loudly.

"Let's hope the same goes for the topic of Jurassic park. I still get story-seekers at my door, all because of your brilliant plan. Not to mention the occasional nightmares I'm still having."

"I am sorry for that, truly. Maybe I can arrange something…"

"No, John, no. You're not going to do anything for or with me ever again. Not after the park. By the way, some things can't be undone, I thought you knew that by now."

The old man smiled at him, grabbed his hand and patted on it with the other.

"Of course, you are right again, Doctor Grant. I will not bother you any further. I wish you a fine day."

Hammond vanished in the sea of faces and Alan buttered a piece of bread. When he turned around he bumped into someone and his snack dropped on the floor.

"Excuse me-oh it's you again. How do you like the congress so far?"

Professor Vliegenthart apologized and prepared another piece of loaf for him and for himself. Alan accepted it and they both enjoyed the rich flavour of the French Brie.

"So far I enjoy the topics, but I didn't enjoy the Jurassic Park joke." Alan admitted.

One of the speakers referred to Alan as the only historian who has been in the situation where history tries to get to you instead of the other way around.

"Ha! I understand what it..."

"Excuse me gentleman."

A well-dressed man stood next to them and held out his hand. The man was wearing a black suit covered by small white stripes, probably very expensive. His tie had a 45 degree angle stripe pattern of black and red. His lips formed a fake smile whilst his grey eyes looked sharply at the men in front of him.

"The name's Jacobson, Pavel Jacobson."

He shook both their hands, but before they could dictate their own names, he continued.

"Doctor Alan Grant, am I correct?"

"Yes indeed."

"Good, than I have found the right man. And this must be doctor Vliegenthart?"

"Professor, if you please."

"Oh forgive me, I'm not so common in the academic world. To me you are all equally brilliant." Pavel laughed, although he was clearly not amused.

"If only that was true for half of the palaeontologists." Alan let out.

The bold Dutchman agreed with a sad nod and Pavel's smile disappeared.

"Anyways. There was something I would like to show you, doctor Grant, would you care to follow me?"

"I'll be seeing you around then…" Arie said as Pavel gestured Alan to come along.

"Why don't you come along? I'm sure that it'll be interesting for both of us old experts." Alan said.

"Is that possible?" Arie demanded.

"Well I… Sure, why not. The more, the merrier." Pavel replied reluctantly.

_End of chapter 1_


	3. Two

_**The story continues, I hope you don't find it boring or anything, but I just want a proper storyline not one in which you just get thrown into something. **_

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**Chapter 2**

Pavel clearly preferred not to bring Arie along, but he had given in to Alan's request in order to ingratiate himself with the doctor. And so it was that the two intellectuals left the big hall and followed the almost bold, black-suited man through a corridor into another room. It wasn't a long walk until the three men arrived at their destination. A cliché bodyguard with a black suit, sunglasses and an earphone turned around as the door opened.

"It's okay Harold, it's me." Pavel said to him and the man nodded.

"Personal protection?" Arie sniggered, pointing at the man with his thumb.

"More for this, than for me." Pavel answered picking up the suitcase the guard was standing next to.

"That looks important."

"It _is_ important, my dear professor. Allow me to show you."

Pavel opened the suitcase and took out a strangely formed artefact, covered in thin cloth. The inside of the case was filled with black foam rubber, so it was probably fragile. He carefully unwrapped the package and a white piece of stone was revealed. As Alan looked closer he determined that it was not a rock, it was a bone! A well preserved skull that, judging by his quick analysis, once belonged to a gallimimus.

"Where did you get that?" he thought out loud rather than to ask.

"This is from my personal collection."

"May I?" he said, pointing at the artefact.

"Of course, of course."

Pavel handed him the skull and Alan analysed it, rubbed the surface and compared the size to his hand. It was extremely well preserved, something which was rarely seen, even for a bone as commonly found as those of a gallimimus.

"You see doctor Grant, you are one of the few people who has seen these creatures in the flesh."

At those words Alan froze up and got a nasty feeling in his gut. He didn't like where this conversation was going. Mostly when someone addressed him about Jurassic Park they would be straight to the point, what they wanted to know, what he had seen or whether he didn't want to study them up close. This was different. He couldn't describe it really, maybe it was the tone? Either way he sensed that this Jacobson was after more than just a story. He got spooked as Pavel suddenly slapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Isn't that right doctor?"

Alan turned to Pavel, who removed his hand and did a step back.

"Sadly I have to agree."

"What is there to be sad about? Wasn't it thrilling to see them in real life?"

"You have no idea." Alan responded sarcastically.

"Exactly, that's why I'm planning to go on an expedition to the islands myself."

And there it was, the unfortunate plan got uncovered.

"I recommend you not to, but since my visit to the park I have tried that with many people yet somehow everyone seems oblivious to good advice."

"Don't worry, we are well prepared."

"You are never prepared."

"Well, I'm sure you feel otherwise once I have shown you our equipment."

Alan did a step forward and their faces were now only a breath away from each other. Alan continued with a threatening voice.

"Listen to me. You cannot prepare for what is on those islands. Dinosaurs are not simply scared off or immobilized like a dog or something."

"I can assure you, we've packed weaponry to defend us against a dozen of T-rexes."

"T-Rex is a minor threat in comparison to …"

"Velocirapters, yes I've heard your stories describing them as highly intelligent. Still, the creature that outsmarts a rifle has yet to evolve."

Alan shook his head, walked a few paces away and turned again to the businessman.

"You do know that Ingen had sent almost half an army to Isla Nublar and only few managed to escape the island alive. "

Pavel ceased facing him and started to correct his tie in front of a mirror that was hanging on the wall.

"Yes, we've all seen the news. Don't get so dramatic."

"Dramatic?" Alan got really mad, "Don't you think I know you people by now? You are all the same, thinking that you know everything better than your predecessors. Time and again, however, you people fail to understand that there is no such thing as guaranteed safety on those islands!"

"Alan, maybe we should go back to the meeting hall."

Vliegenthart, who had been quiet so far, interrupted the conversation. Alan realized that his friend was right. He nodded and the went for the door. When Arie exited, Pavel asked one last thing.

"So you won't be coming along doctor Grant? Can't I even persuade you by subsidizing your dig?"

"Mister Jacobson, experience taught me that if I get offered money, it's even more reason not to go. Have a nice evening."

He slammed the door. Pavel placed the skull back and closed the suitcase. He looked at Harold, who nodded and picked it up. He then left the room through another door than the researchers. Pavel took a phone from his coat and dialled a number. The phone rang twice before an Eastern-European accent answered it.

"Yes Ivan, it's Jacobson. I have a job for you."

.

Meanwhile Grant and Vliegenthart had returned to the meeting hall. Both hadn't said a word about Pavel or about what happened. Arie suspected that it was best to address another subject, so he started by complementing the food. Alan gladly took the opportunity to talk about something else than the offer of Mr. Jacobson. They went on about food until the second period of talks was announced. While being in the crowd massing at the entry of the lecture hall, Alan spotted Pavel leaving the building. He reckoned that the offer was the only reason why the man had come to the convention in the first place. Alan had the itchy feeling that he hadn't seen the last of the black-suited businessman. However during the lectures, he forgot about the entire matter and enjoyed the talks together with professor Vliegenthart.

"Well, that was an inspirational day, wasn't it?"

Arie and Alan were back in the meeting hall and the day had ended. They joined the line of visitors, waiting for the cloakroom. The employees literally ran around with numbered tickets to find the complementary coats and umbrellas for the flock of leaving guests.

"Yes, but I'm mostly curious about that new equipment. How long do you think until it's fully developed?"

"I don't know, but frankly the ingenuities do not interest me as much as the newly discovered dinosaur species."

They had gotten to the desk and gave their tickets to a young woman who left immediately to fetch their possessions.

"Well it's not for myself. I need to keep my dig updated with the latest gear. I hate computers and they seem to hate me back."

The lady returned with their belongings and quickly went on with the next person. Alan sparked at the staff as he found that he had been brought the wrong hat. Another man apologized and it took him a couple of minutes at the back to return with the correct one. The man apologized again and resumed his work.

"To think I had to leave with a different hat!" the doctor groaned.

"Yes, that would be a disgrace." Arie chuckled.

After they left the building Alan and himself walked for a while to get to the far end of the street so he could catch a cab more easily than at the dense population of lifters at the exit.

"Will you be riding along?" Alan asked.

"No, I'm going for a walk. It's a beautiful evening and I need to stretch my old muscles."

The Dutchman laughed and they shook hands.

"Well, I see you tomorrow Alan old friend."

"I believe so. Goodnight professor."

Suddenly a black van pulled over, the door slid open and two men stepped out. They grabbed both pedestrians and covered their mouths with chloroform drenched towels. It all happened so fast, Alan didn't even had time to call for anyone. As his vision blurred, he saw his companion collapse. He looked at the assailants, but the black ski masks made it impossible to recognize the people wearing them. The black colour of the headgear spread to every corner of his view as he lost consciousness.

_End of chapter _


	4. Three

_**So, I've had this story on pause for a couple of months, yet here I am again. Still determined to finish it, I've chosen to add another character you're all familiar with. If you hadn't noticed it yet, please read on to find out. **_

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**Chapter 3**

When Alan woke alive he felt a little nauseous. He looked around and tried to identify his surroundings. He had a pounding headache, which led him to the conclusion that he had probably been knocked out with chloroform. The room was tilting up and down and he had trouble standing up because of it. It was an ordinary room, a bed, a chair and table all in the same style. The ground had a cyan colour and appeared to be a short of canvas. In one of the white walls was a small round window. He motioned himself to look through it, but when he was able to do so, a splash of water blurred the glass on the outside. Then it struck him. He was not the one tilting, the room was, he was on a ship!

He shook his head and began to feel sick. He kept thinking 'not again, please' as he slowly moved towards the chair. He sat down and tried to recollect what had happened. The van, the ski masks, the professor. He shot from his chair, but immediately regretted having doing so. The headache sliced through his cranium and forced him back into his seat. Where had the professor been taken? Next to him was a small round table, upon which stood a bottle of spring water. He picked it up and took a sip.

"Aaaah." he let out.

The cool liquid felt divine in his dry mouth and his dizziness decreased a little bit. He had to find out what happened to the professor, and to himself for that matter. As he got up his brains protested, but he hád to. He had to try and stop this madness, if it was not yet too late. He shambled across the room and reached out for the doorknob. For a moment he was afraid that it might be locked, however he heard a click and the door slit open. He looked left and right. Nobody to be seen.

'They're seemingly not afraid that I'll be going somewhere.' he concluded.

He exited his room and continued shambling through the corridor where a few stairs led to a door that was half-way open. He came across another room identical to his own. Maybe he found the professor there. He opened the door, but found it to be empty. Then he faintly heard voices coming from the end of the hallway.

"… ridiculous… what … well?"

Every step closer he could distinguish more words.

"You can't expect me to lean back comfortably while you set sail for that hellhole?"

Alan was excited, yet disappointed at the same time as recognized the voice. He pushed open the metal hatch and carefully treaded outside. When his eyes got used to the light he took record of some of the exterior details of the ship.

The cabins, from which he just arrived, were located at the back. This complex rose a lot higher than any of the other compartments, but this was only logical. The bridge was situated on top where the captain could to see everything. This wouldn't be possible if his field of vision was denied. Even though Alan didn't have a good look from his current position on who was standing in the bridge hut, he knew that he himself would be plainly visible from up there. In front of him was the vast main deck. His capability of taking a stroll was restricted by a small fence that was meant to avoid people from straying across it. This would interfere with the sailors that were walking back and forth there, not to mention that it would be dangerous. In the middle was a huge hatch that would only lead to the belly of the ship where the cargo was stored. It was halfway open and if one took a tumble, one might sustain more than a few bruises. On the front of the ship there was another, wider yet lower complex. As far as Alan's knowledge about a cargo ship went, he assumed it was the location of the engine and more machinery required for the ship to function.

He walked up to the angry man and received a smile from the latter as he was recognized. The man´s black suit was an appeasing sight to Alan's light-sensitive painful head.

"Well, I'm not sure it's appropriate, but god, I'm glad to see you here as well Alan."

"I didn't really have a choice Ian."

Ian's short black hair was even more ruffled than usual by the sturdy wind. The thick black frame of his glasses reflected the sunlight straight into Alan's eyes, making him squint.

"I was discussing our destination with this friendly sailor, although it appears that it is meant to be a surprise." Malcolm said sarcastically.

The other man, who was clearly not even a sailor, did not respond. He merely drew an annoyed face. It was clear that in these few minutes of discussion the man already took a disliking of the chaotician. Once Alan addressed him, he took his chance to back away and escape.

"I think I know where we're going and upon seeing us both here, I believe you do too."

Malcolm rubbed his chin and came to the same awful conclusion.

"Damn it" he cursed out loud, "will they never learn?"

"Unfortunately for us, it seems they don't. Coming to think of it, were you abducted as well?"

"I didn't sign up for a trip back to the Jurassic if that's what you're implying." Ian said, raising an eyebrow.

"Surely, but weren't you drugged?"

"Oh yes, pounding headache, nauseous feeling, issues with your vestibular apparatus. Nasty stuff they used to knock us out."

"Then how come you don't act like it?" Alan answered as Ian didn't appear to suffer from any of the mentioned symptoms.

"Well, I-eh, hehehe, I'm an experienced man with hang-overs so I-eh… I'm actually quite in my element right now."

Behind them a second man in a suit appeared who cleared his throat to get their attention. Alan knew the man as Harold, Jacobson's private security, and proving to him that his suspicion about the identity of the culprit was indeed correct. The bodyguard escorted them back inside and up another stairs to a different room. The outside looked the same as their own, however the inside was much more luxuriously decorated. Malcolm whistled in astonishment.

"I think we've found first class." he said.

In the back of the room stood a large chair, faced to a heater. The person in it put down his newspaper and arose to greet his guests. As he already knew the palaeontologist, he made an attempt to shake hands with the mathematician while introducing himself. The other impolitely declined this by not even bothering to look at, nor respond to the gesture. Without any sign of change in attitude, Pavel lowered his hand again.

"I trust that, in your profound wisdom, you have thought of a sensible explanation for bringing us on your ehm, holiday?" Ian demanded with his usual sarcasm.

"Be seated and I shall clear some things up."

The businessman clicked his fingers and Harold placed two chairs opposite to his boss. Pavel held out his hand to the chairs and waited for his guests to sit down first before following their example.

"Please."

His guests reluctantly accepted the invitation, when Alan realized that someone was yet unaccounted for.

"What did you do to the professor?"

"Ah, you see, he wasn't meant to be taken as well. An unfortunate turn of events so to say."

"What did you do to him?"

Alan jumped up from his chair, invoking the nearby guards' protective instincts. Pavel smirked, hoping for this to happen, subsequently shaking his head lightly and the guards returned to their original pose.

"At ease, doctor Grant, he's downstairs in a room similar to yours."

Alan plumped down and Pavel started his explanation.

"So, you're wondering why I brought you here."

"Not at all, that's why we just asked you." Malcom replied deadpanned.

"Despite all the safety precautions I have taken for my expedition, none of my employees was willing to go unless I brought someone with experience regarding these… creatures."

"Expedition? Oh thank god, I thought it was a suicide trip to an island filled with rampaging dinosaurs that are bound to kill everyone in a tsunami of carnage. And those safety precautions, pheew, that is one heavy load of my back."

Pavel fought to retain his friendly attitude, but the excessive amount of cynicism expressed by his captive caused him to bite down hard to prevent his smile from fading. This did not go unnoticed by the doctor who placed his hand before his mouth to hide his smirk.

"Yes, well I have to say I was somewhat surprised when I heard you were not so compelling to join us." Pavel stated.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho." Ian laughed, "I assure you, sooner rather than later, you will find out why we preferred our couch at home over this trip of yours."

"We'll just see about that. Anyway, that is not the only reason that I brought _you_ doctor Grant."

"Oh great, there is more?" Alan said.

He realized that he had quickly assimilated his friend´s sarcastic attitude.

"Yes indeed. Do you remember this."

Jacobson placed a suitcase on his lap and retrieved the gallimimus skull from it. Alan nodded, yet did not see what it had to do with him.

"You see, doctor Grant, this little thing here is worth a lot more than just your admiration. For your admiration and that of others like you is what makes it worth a great deal of money." He spoke, softly rubbing across the fossil.

Ian laughed scornfully.

"Ha! I knew it. As unpredictable as all large systems like us humans are there is one motive that bounds us all to predictability: Money. "

This last interruption was clearly the last straw. Pavel tossed the skull coarsely back in the suitcase and rose from his chair. He pointed menacingly at the man dressed in black.

"I strongly suggest that you change your attitude, mister Malcolm."

Malcolm stood up as well and both tried to kill the other by glaring angrily.

"You think that threatening my will persuade me?"

"It better does, or your part in this expedition is going to end sooner than you expected."

"You're gonna throw me of the boat? Please do, I'd rather swim all the way back to Costa Rica than to set another foot on one of those islands."

"That can be arranged."

The two quarrellers stood face to face in silence for a brief moment when the door swung open.

"Mister Jacobson. We're nearing our destination."

"Finally."

He followed the man in the doorway to the bridge of the vessel, followed by his security and the two intellectuals. Once there, the captain greeted him and pointed ahead. When Grant and Malcolm entered as well, they were looked at with suspicion. It was clear that they were not meant to be here as well, however no-one made any effort to throw them out. It was thus that they were able to stay and monitor the events. At the horizon a couple of islands were visible. Still a long to go, yet it was certain that they were reaching their destination.

"Excellent, how soon can we start our deployment on land?"

"Ehm, at our current speed, I'd say -.."

"Captain! I'm getting a reading on the sonar." A nearby sailor called out.

"What where?"

"Right in front of us, sir, and it big!"

_End of chapter_


	5. Four

_**Another chapter. I hope so far the story hasn't been too stale. If so you should be pleased to hear that the dinosaur action scenes are about to kick in. **_

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Alan didn't like the word 'big' when it concerned anything on these islands. He wiggled on his feet while Pavel and the crew silently discussed what to do. The captain had given the order to start reverse-engines in order to decrease speed and now the vessel lay still. One of the bodyguards kept a watchful eye on them, hence they couldn't reach the radar to see the object of interest. When they had made their decision, the captain returned to his post and called a few commands over the intercom. Pavel and his guards left the room and Harold gestured Grant and Malcolm to follow. Seconds before leaving the cabin, Ian caught a glimpse of the sonar screen and sighed.

When they were walking down the stairs, Ian poked his friend.

"Relax Alan." he whispered, "I took a peek, it's not a dinosaur thank god."

"Don't be too relieved. I'm sure we're about to see some dinosaurs before we're out of this mess." he paused when Harold glared at him, then went on: "You saw what it was?"

"Yea, it's -.."

Ian was given an irritated thump to the shoulder and Harold demanded him to be quiet. Malcolm only obeyed for a moment and when the guard lost his attention again, he continued.

"It was a long thick line, I looked like a wall."

"A wall? In the water?"

His friend nodded. Alan was convinced that it was probably not just for keeping away prying eyes. When they got to the hind deck, Pavel stopped and turned to them.

"Gentleman, I have some business to attend to, feel free to retreat to your cabin or walk around this part of the deck. For the time being, we're not yet setting foot on land."

He walked away with two of his companions, the third stayed to keep track of their whereabouts. Harold.

Just when both decided to return to their room they heard noise of machinery. They headed outside, tailed by Harold, and saw that a large crane was in motion. A small boat was being lifted from the cargo space. It was placed with crew and all into the water next to the hull of the ship. Alan looked at Ian, but before he could ask what they were about to do the man already shook his head in ignorance. Once they got a hundred metres or so from the ship, a small package was thrown into the water.

_*Kaboom*_

Both Ian and Alan were spooked by the explosion that followed, shooting the water 10 metres straight up. This action was repeated several times until the tiny boat returned and one of the men aboard it raised his thumb. When the crane started to it back up, the ship began to move forward.

"I think they blew up the wall." Ian spoke.

"I believe you are right." a voice behind them said.

The two men turned around and saw the bold elder standing behind them. Arie had woke up by the noise of the explosives and on his way to the deck overheard sailors saying they cleared a path. Alan apologized for involving him in his abduction, but the Dutchman waved it away.

"You are not to blame for their actions, doctor Grant."

"Alan, please. Since it's only us three against all of them I suppose we can call ourselves all friends."

"The enemy of my enemy, I like it. Ian Malcom." Ian introduced.

"Arie Vliegenthart." and they shook hands.

.

It was still an hour before the ship dropped anchor and during that time they had been discussing their situation, briefing Arie on what he was about to face and tried to think of an escape plan. For the moment, however, it seemed there would be no way out. Ian recollected as much he could about these islands and was pretty sure that the isle in front of them was Isla Pena. A small island with a few radio posts, presumable without dinosaurs, but life finds a way as Malcolm so eagerly insist upon.

"We will use the transport craft to load the heavy gear onto this island. We will set up our base at the beach. From there we can easily maintain radio-contact with the Russian Jewel."

Pavel showed up behind them, still discussing with a guard, who left once instructed on what to do.

"The Russian Jewel? What a pathetic name for a ship." Ian mocked.

Pavel only presented him a smile. It was one of sadistic pleasure. He enjoyed the fact that he was only moments away from proving his captive wrong.

"I suggest you prepare to leave for the island instead of making bad jokes, doctor Malcolm." he replied before leaving again.

In the cargo hold a lot of commotion was going on. The men were loading all the necessary gear onto the transports which were subsequently lifted by the crane one by one. Ian withdrew a small binoculars from his pocket. Alan wanted to ask why the man had such an item with him, but choose not to. Probably it was for something like spotting lonely good-looking women. He leaned on the railing and peered at the land in the distance. He felt an uneasy stir climbing from his gut through his stomach and into his liver. It wasn't for long until he would be faced with the monsters of his nightmares again. What he didn't know, was that Ian was only hiding behind his binoculars to avoid someone seeing that same fear, which was written all over his face. He too had visited that place too often.

Alan broke free from his hollow stare when he was nudged by Arie. The man pointed at the water below them.

"Did you see that?"

"Hmm?"

"I thought I saw… never mind. It's probably this island playing tricks on me. I'm beginning to see dinosaurs where there are none."

"Dinosaurs in the water?" Ian asked.

"There are dinosaurs that can swim, but it is not like that those would venture into this far from land."

"Spinosaurus swam in rivers, if I remember correctly." Arie thought out loud.

"Swims. He's one of the guys you _can_ but don't _want_ to meet. I know from experience."

"But isn't he supposed to be ichtyofagus?"

"Ichtiwhatnow?" Ian let out, lowering his binoculars.

"Ichthyofagus means his diet consists mostly of fish." the professor elaborated.

"Mostly? I don't like that possibility for exceptions." the man replied and stared back at the island.

"Well, since the supply of large fish on these islands is not highly abundant I'm afraid to say that this Spinosaur survives totally on a diet of meat. Something I can confirm from my own experience."

Suddenly Ian called out. His friends waited for the alarmed man to explain what it was that frightened him.

"I think I saw something move over there. On the shore of Isla Pena."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. There! Again! Here look over there at the rocks."

He handed Alan the binoculars. He saw nothing but the island's sandy beach. Ian pointed to the rocks and Alan followed the imaginary line that was made. A couple of minutes he watched, but nothing. Then just nanoseconds before he wanted to blame it on Ian's lively imagination, his caught sight of a disturbance. Having seen them first hand it was easier to spot the miniscule movements. He gave back the looking glass and confirmed that there were indeed living things on Isla Pena.

"You think we should mention that?"

"I believe we have already done so."

Arie pointed at the balcony of the bridge where the captain stood with a bigger variety of Ian's toy. Pavel was also present, but he was communicating through a walky-talky. The noises originating from the lower levels was now accompanied by some commands being called back and forth between the sailors. Two transports were already in the water, but the third that was lowered back into the cargo hold.

After a few minutes, a different boat came up. This one was armed with two heavy machine guns on the side and one on the top of the steering cabin. It also possessed more plating around the sides. This boat was meant for killing anything that moved.

"I don't know what you saw up there Ian, but I sure hope it can be scared off with that."

.

With the same reluctance as with which they had joined the expedition, they went aboard the transports to hell. Ian even had to be coerced with a smack to the head. While the mathematician was knock-out, the two palaeontologists stood at the front of the metal raft. Still by their side was Harold. He leaned against a jeep that was chained to the deck. The armoured vessel was only a few metres in front of them. Alan had been given his own binoculars by Pavel as token of friendship, but he had only accepted it because it might come in handy not because the man was kind. He had no intention whatsoever to form an alliance with the man who abducted him, yet knew better than to decline practical gifts in his current position. They would need all the equipment possible and even then Alan was confident they were not safe. Arie was less troubled, but from what he had been told he deduced that this was not going to be a safari.

"Look there on the beach!" Someone shouted.

Grant shifted his view to the indicated area and saw some creatures lying on the rocks. They were grey with an inconsistent black pattern all over their backs, causing them to virtually blend in with their environment. He distinguished a colossal body, about five metres long, four paddle-like flippers, and a short tail. The neck was half the size of the animal with a small head at the end.

"Styxosaurus." Arie identified, "A marine reptile from the cretaceous period. Member of the plesiosaur family. That long neck makes them capable of reaching out to schools of fish. While the fish focus on the big body far away, the head chomps its way through the school."

Alan's headed started spinning. There was no doubt that Vliegenthart was right, these were marine reptiles. But Hammond never mentioned the creation of those as well. Now it all became clear. The wall was not meant to keep them out, it was meant to keep those things in.

"What are they doing on land?" Harold asked.

It was the first time the man spoke since their departure from the cargo ship and the first time since they've met that he spoke words that did not imply a threat. Arie explained that they were likely warming up in the sun as most reptiles do and at the same time rest before venturing into the water again.

"Are they dangerous?"

"On land? Not at all. They can hardly move around out of water. I reckon they can bite you if they want, but they hunt small fish so I don't believe that we can consider ourselves in any kind of danger form these giants."

As the army boat sank its hull into the shore, one of the Styxosaurs raised its head and looked at the newcomers. A hatch opened and a small Armoured Personal Carrier rode onto the beach, followed by heavily armed men. One of them walked over to the rocks and more sea creatures popped up their heads to inspect their visitors. They didn't feel threatened by the small mammal that was approaching them and regarded themselves untouchable by such a tiny being. Unfortunately, the animals were unaware of the man's intentions and it was already too late once they sensed the danger.

_End of chapter_


	6. Five

**_My apologies for the long update period, I've been quite busy lately. I did however make some time to see Jurassic World. It was an awesome movie, I'm sure we can all agree on that. Please enjoy the next chapter._**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

The shot echoed over the beach and the terrified plesiosaurs plunged into the sea to escape their assailant. One of them was left behind. Bleeding from the head it lie lifelessly on the rocks. The killer yelled to the others that he had conquered his first dinosaur. Arie shook his head displeasingly. He couldn't comprehend why one would kill such a beautiful animal, it hadn't done any harm. Its curiosity towards mankind had been repaid with a bullet and he feared that his chance of studying one up close was now gone forever.

The man had quickly lost interest in his kill and joined the army of mercenaries as they began setting up a perimeter. They installed tripwires and heat-sensitive cameras to ensure no dinosaur sneaked into the camp unnoticed. Once it had all been done, the two other transports landed and began unloading. Malcolm had joined his companions when they went ashore and sighed at how laconically the men had set aside their rifles once the safety barrier had been set up.

"Even Ludlow's men were less relaxed than these fellows." he complained.

"You got a problem with that?" a nearby hired gun asked menacingly.

"Yea, if you're getting paid to fire a gun, how do you keep to your end of the bargain if you're not holding one?"

His remark got him a punch in the face and by-standers cheered as they saw Malcolm hit the sand. His attacker taunted him, but then all fell silent. A muscled man had arrived at the scene, bold, a thin grey goatee and a big nose. He helped Ian get up and then turned to his opponent, who immediately tried to defend his actions.

"That guy said we did a lousy job!"

"All of you" he gestured to the crowd, "were whining like babies that we needed someone who had been here before because you didn't know what was coming. Now we have that guy. He has been on this island twice, so I think we so heed his warning don't you agree?"

The man thought about it for a moment then choose not to disobey his superior, which the beefcake turned out to be. The mercenaries scattered and most of them started carrying guns on their back.

"Thanks pal."

"Listen carefully" the boss said with a heavy Russian accent, "you think you are so smart with your jokes, but when a dinosaur appears, you can't talk it to death. My guys shoot it. But if my guys don't like you, they won't shoot it for you. So remember who's helping who out here, okay?"

When the man walked, Ian allowed himself to make another cynical remark.

"Charming guy."

"Charming or not, he did have a point." Arie said.

"You're on his side?" Ian asked indignantly.

"No, I'm merely pointing out that they wield the guns and we need those guns to protect us."

"Arie's right, I don't feel like making friends with these people, however being on our own here is even less encouraging."

Ian agreed by not replying any further and attended his nose by wiping away a small stream of blood that went down the corner of his mouth. They all sat down on a rock that lay in the sand and watched how a jeep drove down one of the transports. Harold, who had abandoned them from the moment they had set foot ashore, walked past them carrying a seemingly heavy iron trunk. He nodded to Vliegenthart as he passed them by.

"You already got a friend I see." Ian spoke a little jealous.

The three academics spent the next two hours quietly observing the men as they unpacked the transports and erected the base. The men worked very organised and each time an argument arose among them, the bold Russian was there to break up the fight. They learned that the man's name was Ivan Propov and was a former member of the Spetsnaz. Also he allegedly came from Ukraine, not Russia. His authority among the mercenaries was nonetheless unquestioned and he and Pavel showed signs of being old friends. His second-in-command was Aleksei Tarasenko, but when Ivan was around, he kept mostly in the background. After the encampment was established, Harold returned and guided them to their tent. Inside they found a couple of sandwiches, still wrapped in plastic and with a price tag on it.

"Looks like they've saved on the food." Ian said dryly, surprisingly causing Harold to snigger.

Their guard had learned through experience that the mathematician possessed an insatiable desire to discredit everything. At first he had felt insulted when the man spoke bad of something, but he began to see it was just the man's pessimistic or, more likely, cynical nature. This time though he had to agree that the food left much to be desired. He did not share this it with his captives, not yet at least. He might not consider them to be his enemies, that didn't mean they were his friends.

.

The sun was setting when Pavel came to visit them in their tent. He looked around with exaggerated contempt, hoping to spark Malcolm into another discussion. It didn't work however. He went on by informing them that they would be traveling south west and build a bridge there to cross onto Isla Tacaño. The idea is that the manmade bridge could be detonated if a large dinosaur should choose to venture onto Isla Pena and towards the camp. According to the records, Isla Pena should be uninhabited by dinosaur and therefore it should be safe to have a camp here, while they would try to find their bounty on the next isle.

"Enjoy your sleep, even if there is something on this island, my men will shoot it before it even knows it is seen."

Then Jacobson left, tailed by Harold leaving the three alone.

"That's a comforting thought."

"I think there's nothing more we can do at the moment than follow his advice and go to bed early." Alan spoke and the others nodded.

.

It had been a restless night for both Alan and Ian. The images of their previous visits to this part of the world had kept them almost wide awake all night. Each time they fell asleep, it wasn't for long until either awoke by a raptor-shaped nightmare. They began their morning with another supermarket sandwich, subsequently joining the other people outside. When they exited, Harold already stood next to the entrance, awaiting them. It had each of them wonder, whether the man had been standing there all night. On the other side of the beach, most of the men had formed a panicky mob and Ivan was trying to get them lined up.

"What's going on?" Arie asked out loud.

"I don't know." Harold replied.

Their guard seemed evenly intrigued by the commotion, yet was obliged to remain at his post.

"Doctor Grant?"

They turned around and saw the second in command, Aleksei. He gestured the researchers to come with him. When the others intended to follow as well, he ordered Harold to stop them and keep them in their tent. Reluctantly, Ian and Arie retreated whilst Alan tagged along. They came past the chaotic group of soldiers. Sadly, the only words he caught were Russian or Ukrainian, either way he wasn't able to understand them. They went into the jungle, subsequently meeting with Pavel there. He stood together with three others next to a carcass with flies buzzing over the last scraps of meat that were stuck to it.

"My god, what happened here." Alan said and looked disgusted at the bloody scene.

"We were hoping that you could tell us." Pavel responded indistinct.

After staring at it for a while, Alan concluded that it was one of the mercenaries that was stationed here last night. His arm was torn off and was nowhere to be found, most of the flesh was stripped away, the ribcage was savagely broken open and the lungs and heart had been removed. The bones that were visible through the dried blood showed carvings, undoubtedly from the teeth of whatever attacked him. Alan bend over, covering his mouth with a handkerchief to avoiding getting sick by the smell. The scrapings into the bone were thin, indicating a small dinosaur. He sighed, glad that this ruled out Velociraptors.

"So?"

"It's probably a small dinosaur, maybe Compsognathus. They might also be small enough to bypass the security."

"Impossible, our infrared cameras would pick up a fly if it were close enough to the ground." Aleksei commented with certainty.

The doctor shrugged.

"Well apparently your equipment failed to detect them."

"What about a flying dinosaur?" Pavel demanded.

"Those are called pterosaurs and no, the wounds show teeth marks so that rules them out. Moreover, they wouldn't be able to scavenge a kill so cleanly as has been done here."

"What is a Compsognathus?"

The man who spoke up now was standing next to Pavel. He was Asian from nature, yet only suffered a minor accent. His tunic was completely grey, whereas all other foot soldiers wore a pattern of green and brown to blend in with their surroundings. This man was probably a higher ranked member as well. While Grant gave the man a description of said animal, he observed him better. At his belt hung a long scabbard. It was a katana, a traditional Japanese sword. On the other side hung a big silver gun. The man had surely packed his biggest gun possible in the hope that he would be able to fend off any predators. Alan believed this to be idle hope.

His interlocutor caught him staring at the firearm and smiled.

"It's a Mamba Pistol, in case something decides to pick me as its lunch."

"If something here decides to pick you, you wouldn't realize it before it's too late."

"I'd like to see them try." Pavel laughed scornfully, "Yamagata here was a former member of the Yakuza. Few people has seen his blade and survived."

Alan shook his head. Ian was right, these people never seemed to learn that dinosaurs are not so easily controlled. Pavel ordered them to bury the body after which he, Yamagata and Alan walked back to the beach.

"Inform your friends that you can rest today, I will have Aleksei take some men today to scout the area. Whatever it was that killed one of us, it won't live to see the next day."

Alan had given up warning him of what could be out there. He had done so enough in his opinion, as had Ian. When he got back to their tent, his friends were eager to know what had been going on. Harold too was interested, however he pretended not to be. It was the fact that he now stood guard inside that betrayed his curiosity. The palaeontologist told them what had befallen one of the guards, that today's plan had been altered and also mentioned the Yakuza soldier. Malcom laughed at the idea of the man mounting a frontal attack against a T-rex with a katana.

"Maybe it'll get stuck on the sword, like a crocodile with a stick in a cartoon."

"That doesn't matter, what does is that the records are wrong! There are dinosaurs on this islands."

"Are you sure it was a dinosaur?" Arie wondered.

"I don't know what else it could've been." Alan said confused.

"But didn't they say they had an airtight alarm system…" the Dutchman thought out loud.

"There is only one explanation." Ian grinnend.

"Yea, yea, life found a way."

Malcolm's smile vanished and he glared annoyed at the doctor opposite him. Alan avoided his look and continued his explanation.

"…and pterosaurs are also impossible because they don't have teeth."

"Strange."

All of a sudden they heard screams coming from the rocks. They noticed Harold had already left and they decided to follow his example. It turned out that the cries were made out of joy, not horror. A man near the water's edge was struggling with his rod as he had seemingly hooked a large fish. The bystanders cheered. One of them was holding on to the man's belt to prevent him from falling over. A small crowd gathered quickly as the battle persisted. His effort was not in vain. After half an hour of an intense game of tug-of-war, he was victorious.

The animal was still in the submerged, but he had managed to tire it out and had pulled it towards the shallows. He handed the guy next to him his rod and together with three others they stepped into the sea to collect his prize. The four of them went through their knees and then simultaneously lifted a huge creature out of the azure water. It had an elongated snout, like that of a dolphin and a streamlined body and was approximately four metres in length. Its wet scales sparkled in the sun as bystanders took photos of the monstrous catch.

"Arie, is that-.."

"Yes, Alan, that is an Ophthalmosaurus."

_End of chapter_


	7. Six

_**I couldn't help but notice everyone writing fanfics about the characters from Jurassic World. Although I had intended to feature parts of it in this story, I have a feeling that some might appreciate it if I include some characters of Jurassic World as well. **_

* * *

**Chapter 6**

The academics watched from a distance as the mercenaries celebrated the enormous catch. They removed the hook from the beak. In the process, they tore the reptile's cheek, causing blood to trickle into the water. Not that anyone cared, they planned to eat the thing anyway. Ivan walked passed them. He too wanted to get a glance of the majestic animal. More men stepped up to feel the Ophthalmosaurus' strange skin or to take a photo with it.

"What is that doing here?"

"I don't know, but combined with the Styxosaurs we saw earlier I have got a bad feeling about what else might be in the water." Alan said.

Arie gave him a questioning look. Ian thought a similar thing and nervously rubbed his chin.

"Think about it. InGen made for each herbivorous dinosaur the complementary carnivore. So, if we have marine reptiles that eat small fish…"

"…then they probably have meat eaters too." Malcolm finished horrified.

"And with all that blood dripping into the sea…" Arie posed.

Alan hesitated for a moment, but then quickly went after the Ukrainian boss. He stopped him at the water's edge. Irritated the man turned to whomever held him back.

"Sir, you have to get your men out of the water, fast!"

"Why?"

A splash, followed by serpentine shape lunging from the water. It grabbed one of the men in the neck and pulled him under water, smothering his cry for help. The man next to him called out surprised, but another, similar shape jumped up. The crocodile-like snout snapped around his face and drew him to the depths. The celebrations turned to fear as everyone realized they were not alone in the shallows anymore. The panicky mob tried to get out of the water as quickly as they could. Although only waist deep, their chaotic attempts made it exhaustingly difficult to reach the shore. They pushed each other aside selfishly, hoping that the animals would grab anyone but themselves. A couple of men drew their guns and began firing at random in the water around them.

"Get to the beach, NOW!" Ivan commanded.

He went into the water himself to pull out someone that missed a hand and was unable to get up by himself. Two others followed his example and aided others in their escape from the lurking menace.

"What are those things?!" Malcolm asked the professor man next to him.

"They looks like mosasaurs, but I can't tell in this madness."

Meanwhile, the mosasaurs continued their savage assault, repeatedly sinking their teeth into human flesh. The shooting men accomplished nothing, the marine hunters were simply too agile to be hit. When all men were back on the dry, Ivan send someone to get a list of names so that he could mark the fallen. At least five people lost their lives in the swift, but brutal attack. The man whom he had pulled from the water was carried to the medic as he washed the blood from his hands.

A moment later Pavel showed up, following the man that brought back the list. He and Ivan began to discuss what had happened.

"How could he have missed what happened?" Ian said in disbelief.

"I don't know."

"Professor!" Harold called.

They turned around and saw the muscular man gesture them from a distance. Two men carried a snake-like creature with multiple bullet wounds throughout its body. Arie identified it as Platecarpus, a smaller type of mosasaur. Its razor sharp teeth were accompanied by a lethally strong bite force allowing it to easily tear chunks of meat from its prey. As elusive as they seemed at first, this one didn't escape the gunfire.

"Ivan!" they heard behind them.

It was one of the hired-guns. He pointed in the distance and acted distressed. His superior ran towards him and they began arguing about something. Pavel joined them, yet used a more gentle pace.

"Eh, guys." Malcom said slowly.

"What?"

"It seems we've got company."

He too pointed at the horizon. All followed his finger and saw what he meant. In the distance lay The Russian Jewel, but past it was another silhouette nearing Isla Pena. Another ship was headed their way.

.

– _A few days earlier – _

"_Your resume looks impressive."_

_A woman dressed in white with high heels went through the paperwork that lay in front of her. All around it, the wooden desk was littered with all kinds of evaluation forms, reports and C.V.s of other applicants. Her eyes scanned every line of the document in her left hand, whilst her right clasped around a cup of coffee. On the other side of the desk, a relaxed man leaned back in his chair. He wore a thin green shirt, black pants and sturdy hiking shoes. He had no worries that he would be denied. Then again he never had much worries about anything before, so why now? The woman opposite him was quite the opposite. She acted a little twitchy and her desk suggested that she was undergoing a stressful period. The man wondered whether a joke would loosen her up._

"_Thank you. From here your resume looks fine as well." he grinned._

_The woman who was just taking a nip from her coffee swallowed it the wrong way and coughed. _

"_If you think that such language will help you get on board, you are mistaken." she said once she recovered._

_The man shrugged. Apparently she was a monotonous woman. It took her another couple of minutes to finish reading his dossier and he waited patiently for that moment to arrive. _

"_So, you've worked with animals before?" she said, putting aside the dossier._

"_I believe that's what it said right there." he replied, pointing at it._

_She chuckled, "yes, indeed it does. But the animals you're going to work with here are, well… different."_

_He scratched his sideburn and leaned forward._

"_Look, I know we're talking about dinosaurs here, so why don't we just skip to that? It'll save us both a lot of time."_

_Although initially feeling insulted, she was now rather shocked that he knew what he was signing up for and could still be so calm. When she got to work there, seeing one of those things in real-life for the first time had freaked her out. Nonetheless she had accepted the challenge, just as long as she wouldn't have to face them. This man appeared rather eager to get to see them. Little did she know, he would eventually even take it a step further. _

"_Alright then. I've compared your records with that of other applicants and I believe that you possess the qualities we need."_

_She got up from her chair and extended her hand to him. He got up and took it, subsequently shaking it softly. _

"_Welcome aboard, mister Grady." she said._

"_Thank you, misses… Dearing." he said, reading her name-tag. _

"_Miss, I'm not married." _

"_Really? That's interesting." he smiled. _

_He took a step back and looked at her from head to toe, making made her uneasy. She cleared her throat in the hope he would stop. It made him draw an ever bigger grin. She was saved when a man knocked at her door. _

"_Claire?"_

"_Yes?" she said thankfully. _

"_There's a situation that needs our attention."_

"_What is it?" Owen asked._

_The man gave Claire a questioning look to discover if he was allowed to share any details in the man's presence. She nodded approvingly._

"_There's a breach in one of our facilities, we need to send in a team."_

_She nodded and turned to her newly hired employee. _

"_Well mister Grady. It looks like you can start off right away."_

.

"Who are they?" Ian wondered.

Alan shrugged and pointed at their captor. Pavel boarded one of the transports. Together with a group of soldiers, he headed back to The Russian Jewel. Aboard the boat Alan saw Yamagata by his side. The Yakuza never left the side of his boss.

"I think he's going to find out."

"Perhaps."

The panic-storm that had manifested in the small army subsided and Ivan was once again giving orders. Some started digging a grave for the dead, others returned to their tents. Ivan eventually turned to them.

"There is nothing more to see." he said unfriendly, "You, Harold, get them back to their -.."

He was interrupted by the creaking sound of his radio. Ivan withdrew it from its pocket and pulled out the antenna. He turned the knob to gain a better signal. Although Ivan gestured them to go away, Ian placed a hand on his Alan's shoulder. He nodded at the radio and both understood that it was perhaps useful to hear what was said. The noise became interspersed by a voice. It was one of desperation.

"…Everywhere...kggg… They… kgg…"

"Aleksei! Talk to me!"

After a couple of minutes the creaking had turned to a faint voice. He bashed angrily on the topside of the device. All of a sudden it became crystal clear.

"… all sides. They're coming from all sides."

"Aleksei. Talk to me! What is going on?"

In the background they heard gunfire and more men crying out.

"Oh god… There is another."

"What is happening?!" Ivan shouted.

Aleksei yelled something in Ukrainian, followed by a strange screech. Then all that could be heard was a crunching noise. The man was dead. Ivan slid the antenna back down and looked at the Alan, plumbed down into the sand. Ian began to pace with his hands around his head. Their nightmares had been reawakened.

"Since you've been eavesdropping, would you care to tell me what it was that killed my friend?" Ivan demanded.

"Velociraptor." Alan spoke softly.

"What?"

Ivan leaned forward to hear him better, but Alan did not repeat himself.

"I believe he said, Velociraptor." Arie answered.

"How big are those?"

"About a metre and a half tall." he continued.

"But InGen made bigger ones. Scarier ones." Ian corrected.

"Sounds like we can kill them." Ivan said vengeful.

"They're two metres tall monsters that plan your demise the moment they lay eyes on you."

"They cannot plan against bullet."

He called out to seven names, causing the addressed men to start gathering supplies. He told Harold that he was not to lose sight of the three prisoners. He planned to leave right away, they had to be ready. Ian and Alan looked at each other. It took him about five minutes to get his team ready and return to them.

"Malcolm and Grant come with us. You stay here."

"I am coming too." Arie said.

He looked annoyed at the old man, but saw no reason to haggle over bringing him along. If he wanted to come then why not? But he had no intention to slow down so that the old guy could catch up.

"Believe us, you can better stay here." Alan suggested.

"Like it's safe here. I'd rather tag along with you than stay here awaiting my fate."

Harold nodded and decided to join them as well. It was his responsibility to look after the prisoners. Also he had grown fond of the old man. He didn't know why, but the Dutchman just never seemed to act hostile. Ivan appointed a man as his next-in-command. Then the team of twelve, armed to the teeth and eager for payback, set out for the jungle.

.

In the distance lay the giant cargo ship. Owen was leaning on the railing at starboard as he peered over the water. Yesterday they had located the site of the breach of the habitat. A containership called The Nelly had crashed into the wall. The crew was nowhere to be found and had likely drowned. It had taken them a full day to fix the hole made by the vessel. Then, just before they left their sonar picked up another signal. Another boat was in the area and now they were heading straight for it. He put down his backpack and withdrew his old binoculars from it. He try to spot the name of the vessel. There it was: 'The Russian Jewel'.

'What a desperate name'. he thought.

As he scanned its surface he could distinguish a lot of man-sized silhouettes moving up and down. All this activity indicated that they were spotted. What their response to this discovery would be remained to be seen. Whoever was on it, they were probably not here for sightseeing. Something else he managed to distinguish other than sailors were four cannons, placed on all sides. They themselves had two cannons as well. He had his doubts about their way of approaching these invaders. If they were met with a hostile response they wouldn't stand a chance and from what the stories he had been told, this is not the part of the sea you want to be swimming in.

"Owen, it's time!"

He had volunteered to join the party that would set out to negotiate with the trespassers. If anything went wrong, he would much rather be in the middle of it than stand on the side-lines. Deep down he felt that this encounter was going to end badly, but since he was ex-military he knew better than to question the higher authority during his first assignment.

The Insula, the InGen ship upon which Grady was stationed, came alongside The Russian Jewel. A nearly bold man dressed in an expensive suit waved from the other deck and greeted them heartily. Next to him stood an Asian man with a surly expression. It was impossible to miss the big sword on his hip. Two sailors extended a gangway so that The Insula's company could come aboard. Owen was the last to walk across the small bridge and when they all arrived, the businessman asked to follow him into the nearest cabin. Before he stepped through the hatch however, Owen overheard the Asian man whisper to the sailors.

"Once they are all inside, take their ship and kill them all."

_End of chapter_


	8. Seven

**Chapter 7**

Owen's eyes shot from left to right as he counted the number of enemies surrounding them. There were two men behind, one beside and one in front of him. He didn´t know how of them had guns, but he suspected almost every one. It was now or never. He punched the one closest to him in the face. He felt the bone of his target's nose break under the abrupt impact of his clenched fist.

"It's a trap! Back to the Insula!" he called.

The Ukrainians reckoned their ambush attempt had been discovered and they drew their guns. The InGen employees also grabbed their weapons, resulting in a short-range firefight. Owen did not possess a gun. Instead he charged at one of the foes behind him forcing the man backwards. Like a quarterback he slammed into the sailor and together they tumbled over a nearby crate. His target hit the deck with his head and got knocked unconscious. All around there were the echoes of gunfire and the cries of people getting shot. From behind the crate Owen witnessed his team getting butchered. The leader of the party got decapitated by the Japanese gangster, whereas the rest was shot trying to return to their ship.

"OWEN!"

A marine aboard the Insula called his name to alert him that the gangplank was about to fall. He knew that he had only one chance. In a swift motion he snatched up the sailor's gun and shot the last man that blocked his way to the side of the ship. As he ran towards the gangplank, he glanced back and saw two of his allies doing the same thing. He noticed it was already wobbling frightfully, but there was no time for hesitation. The Insula had fired up her engines to make a tactical retreat and this was the only way. Halfway, the plank collapsed and Owen made a leap for the railing, just managing to grab on one of the cables.

He tried to pull himself up, but was caught by surprise as an abrupt extra weight pulled him down and made his hand slip from the cable. In the blink of an eye his sharp reflexes had him seize the ledge of the deck with his other hand, saving him from a quick descent. An InGen employee had made the same jump, yet couldn't reach the ship anymore. Instead he had grabbed hold of Owen's legs, almost taking both of them down.

"HEY! PULL US UP!" Owen shouted.

The sharp whizzing of nearby bullets pained his ears and he called out again. This time a man leaned over and lifted him up by his arms. When he was almost back on the deck, he heard another whiz and the weight at his knees vanished. Below him, the man tumbled down with two blood stains on his chest. The hail of bullets continued and he and his saviour went inside.

"We have to contact Isla Nublar asap." he advised.

"We can't, not from out here. We have to get closer to the sluice."

A sluice was built into the north side of the wall to allow InGen´s ships to pass through without letting the fauna escape. It was an unmanned station, but had a radio tower to redirect transmissions to Isla Nublar if anything went wrong.

"Who's in command now that the captain's dead?"

"The next in command was Charlie, but he got shot inches behind you."

Owen remembered the falling man with the gunshot wounds.

"And after him?"

"I believe you are, sir."

.

It was much darker in the dense jungle than Alan had expected. The canopy blocked almost every ray of sunlight and those that did pass were not enough to lighten everything. The subsequent random spots of dark vegetation had everyone on edge, not to mention the random sounds. The continuous suspense combined with the damp atmosphere had everyone soaked in less than half an hour. The group was marching in a line with Ivan up front. After him five of his mercenaries, then Alan, Arie, Ian, Harold and at the back the last two soldiers. Nobody had said a word since they had left and Ivan had only communicated with his men through sign language. Grant and Malcolm appreciated this. Arie on the other hand could not stand the silence any longer.

"Do we even know where this Aleksei was when it happened?"

He carefully avoiding the word 'killed' in the hope not to arouse another hate-fuelled speech from their Ukrainian companions. Alan was surprised by the ease with which the old man managed to keep up with them.

"Ssssh!" Malcolm hushed.

"What? If these creatures are as dangerous as you described them, I'm sure they'll hear us coming even if we are quiet." Arie replied annoyed.

"He's got a point Malcolm." Alan admitted.

"Nonetheless I prefer quiet." Ian whispered.

"I'm sorry, mister Ivan?"

"What?" the latter replied sour.

Vliegenthart was about to repeat his question when he was already given his answer.

"Every radio has an tracker that can be switched on. Aleksei activated his the moment he left camp."

The old professor nodded. Ian tried to make them whisper, yet all he got was a glare. Fortunately for him this reply was the end of the conversation.

The undergrowth was dense. If a raptor was three metres away you wouldn't even be able to spot it. Ian had seen the velociraptors make use of such advantages before. During his last trip here, they had been cunning enough to hide themselves in tall grass. They couldn't be seen until it was too late and no-one had stood a chance. He expected the same thing to happen any second, causing him to sweat perhaps even more than the others. Repeatedly he wiped his forehead with his sleeve, soaking it too in minutes.

Suddenly a shape emerged from the bush next to him and in panicky move he fell on his back, shielding his face with his arms. All around him the guns were aimed for his position. It was only a bird however, that flew up to the safety of the trees. Malcolm wished he could too. The men laughed at him, mocking him as payback for his negative attitude. He didn't care, he would be right sooner or later. As Arie had said before, it was impossible for the twelve of them to travel undetected. And when the time came that he would be proven right, he'd let them know. If anyone was still alive of course.

"Be careful that the parrot doesn't peck you on the head." Harold joked as he walked past him.

The soldier behind him reached out to help Ian back on his feet. Out of thin air, a man-sized brown creature emerged, charging Harold in the back pushing him face down in the grass. The bodyguard wrapped his arms around his neck for protection, consequently getting bitten there. The razor-sharp teeth cut open his arm as the animal tried aimed for his throat. The second soldier in the back of the line drew his gun in a flowing motion and filled the beast excessively with hollow points. The entire cascade of events took only a few seconds, but in that time Harold's arm had gotten severely ruptured.

"Your first battle scar, Harold!" one of the soldiers laughed.

The seeming unshakable bodyguard got up and was still a little pale because of what had endured. It took him a brief moment to regain his sturdy attitude. The group's medic applied a bandage on his torn arm. Harold thanked him and then pointed at the mangled corpse in front him.

"Is that a raptor?" he asked.

"No…" Alan said, bending over "it is not."

"Then what is it?" Ian asked, still a little pale from the ambush attack.

"If I am correct, than this is a Sinornithosaurus. It is a late cretaceous dinosaur from nowadays Asia."

"Looks like mutant bird." Harold's saviour remarked in deficient English.

"Well, it is part of the group that developed the first feathers. The descents of this thing became the birds, so you're not entirely wrong. These creatures cannot fly though. They glide between treetops similar to flying squirrels today."

"Flying squirrel?" Ivan asked.

"Never mind. What's important is that it is believed to have venom glands."

Everyone looked at Harold, who shook his head in reply. Their stare maintained as if the man could display signs of poisoning any second.

"Really, I feel fine."

"Well, maybe InGen's genetic recombination has abolished that property?" Ian suggested.

"Let's hope so, for his sake."

"I told you. I'm al-right!" Harold sparked.

Ivan had heard enough.

"Okay" he said, "then we're moving on. And keep your eyes up as well, we don't want any more birds landing on poor Harold here!"

.

The Insula was no longer side to side with The Russian Jewel, but the danger had not yet been averted. They had to get out of range quickly. The cargo ship was still anchored and it would take them a while to reel in the enormous anchor. Also it would be much slower than the more lightweight Insula. The real problem was the four long range cannons, positioned on all sides of the enemy vessel. As they were distancing themselves as fast as they could, Owen stared perplexed at everyone on the bridge.

"How can I be the next man in charge?"

"Formally you're not, I am." the first mate answered "However, you are the only one with military experience. Therefore I think you are the best choice to take command in our current situation."

"I didn't serve in the navy!" Owen shouted.

Although he understood the reasoning, he didn't want to be in charge. He didn't have any more clue than anyone else in the room. He looked around and noticed that everyone was staring at him and none of them was willing to take no for an answer. As much as he'd like to argue against his appointment, he reckoned that time was scarce and thus accepted it reluctantly.

"Alright then." he sighed, "Now let me see."

He studied the map of the area carefully even though there wasn't much to look at. He contemplated whether to fight or to run away. Neither of the options struck him as ideal. The only difference he could deduce was getting shot up close or at a distance.

"What do we do sir?"

"Don't call me sir!" he responded aggressively.

"Sorry, Owen."

He made an apologetic gesture to the man. The tension was making him petulant.

"We gotta try to get out of range, fast."

"But with our cannons…"

"I know we have cannons, two. They have four. Now that we are speaking about those cannons, we shouldn't be going in a straight line. Try to make a zigzag manoeuvre to doge the incoming fire and have it as random as possible. Isn't there a military tactic like that?"

The first mate nodded and began shouting commands down the radio. Almost immediately Owen felt the ship tilting. The swift response pleased him. He walked outside and took the binoculars from his bag. The Russian Jewel hadn't begun to lift anchor yet.

'They must be pretty confident about their gunfire' Owen pondered hoping they were wrong.

He spotted how the front, side and rear cannon slowly aimed for their position. He praised the Insula for its speed as they doubled their distance during that time. He saw the first round being fired and a few seconds later an enormous splash behind them. Owen heaved a sigh of relief. As planned, their boat now made a one hundred and fifty degree turn. A second bang echoed over the water, this time the distance was correct, yet thanks to their manoeuvre it still missed. The third was delayed until when the Insula began to make another turn. This time however, it was only forty five degrees resulting in another splash.

"Come on! We're almost out of range." Owen spoke nervously to himself.

Then, The Russian Jewel did what he had feared the most. All three cannons rotated in different directions. When the Insula made a rightward turn, Owen knew it was already over. The three cannons fired simultaneously and he could only stare at the incoming shells. Two splashes, one at their previous course and one to the left of it. The third round dug itself into the hull of the Insula and blew it open.

The force of the blast wave pushed Owen from the bridge and he fell six metres down. Whereas he thought to land on the deck and break his neck, he ended up in the canvas of one of the lifeboats. The impact had ruptured its chain and had shove it onto the deck. His head was sore from the explosion, but he was alive. Having thought this for only a moment, two more rounds hit the Insula. The first at the bow, tilting the ship forward as it began to sink, the second into the bridge hut. If that first hit hadn't knocked him over, he would've be dead.

"Abandon ship! Abandon ship!"

The man that called out to was his previous saviour. Not that he needed to. It was already evident that the vessel was lost and everyone was making his way to the boats. Together with a couple of sailors, Owen pushed the lifeboat over the side. As the ship was sinking rapidly it was only a three metres drop. When The Insula had vanished into the blue, all members that were still alive had spread themselves across the three emergency vessels.

"What do we do now?" someone asked.

Before Owen had time to respond, another man beat him to it.

"Everyone, calm down!" the guy shouted from another boat. "They've just set out a small transport. They're coming this way to pick us up!"

_End of chapter_


	9. Eight

**Chapter 8**

The explosions could be heard far and wide. The company halted upon hearing the first blast. Ivan and his men exchanged glances. When more impacts followed, they laughed and spoke to each other in an eastern European tongue. The academics also looked at one another and knew that Pavel had favoured violence over diplomacy. The small chance of rescue they had was shattered. They were getting close to Aleksei's radio signal and as they had been walking for an hour now, Ivan saw fit in a short break before going on. The heat had drenched every tunic and exhausted every man. All were glad to be able to quench their thirst. Despite the humidity, everyone was parched by the continuous march through the muggy forest.

Harold was the first to plump down onto the ground. He did his best to open a bottle, but his quivering hands made him incapable of doing so. Arie was the first to spot his fruitless efforts.

"Alan." he said, pointing it out.

He came over and examined the man. Harold's face was pale, almost white. He was sweating heavily, however the climate could also be the cause of that. His hands were shaking incredibly hard and his eyes were bloodshot. When he refuted these facts and stood up to prove he was fine, he fell face down in the grass. This drew all the attention to him. Ivan stood up and walked over to them.

"What's with him." he asked pointing at the shivering man.

"I'm no physician, but I think we can assume that the Sinornithosaurus' venom is killing him." Alan replied.

Ivan squatted next and rolled the patient on his back. He slowly removed the bandage from the right arm. The last bit stuck to the flesh and after a tug shot loose, uncovering a horrific sight. The festering wound was still wet and the cytotoxic poison had caused it to start rotting. The man's immune system was overloaded by the burden of poison, animal saliva and infected tissue and he was in a very bad condition.

"Can you help him?"

"Yea sure. Let me just get my Jurassic survival guide and browse prehistoric poisons." Malcolm replied annoyed by the man's question.

"Then we leave him. He'll only slow us down."

"What?" Arie let out, "You're just gonna leave your man-.."

"Yes professor I am. Perhaps you haven't heard your friend, but there is nothing we can do."

Ivan commanded the group to move on again. Harold paid Harold his respects before leaving. Not that he noticed, the fever had left the man unconscious as he shivered uncontrollably. Arie looked at Ian and Alan, but both shook their heads and followed the group. The last man to close the ranks pulled out his gun. The birds flew up as the gunshot resounded over the jungle. As if struck by lightning, Ivan turned around and worked his way back to end of the column. The man was just putting away his pistol as he got hit in the face by the clenched fist of his superior.

"Idiot, why did you do that?"

"I ended his suffering."

"Do you not realize what you have done?!"

Before he could continue they were interrupted by rustling in a bush nearby.

.

Owen put down his backpack and ploughed through its contents. Where was that damn thing. Then he remembered having lost his binoculars during his fall from the bridge. He swore under his breath. He looked around to see whether anyone in his vicinity possessed one, but it didn't appear that way. The guy in the other boat was still overconfident that everyone would be picked up.

"Listen pal. Do you really think they're gonna save us after they blew up our boat?" Owen asked.

"Then what is that transport going to do, hunh?" the man retorted.

Owen shook his head and disapproved the naivety his interlocutor possessed. He turned to the people in his boat.

"Look, we have to get away before that transport is here." he recommended.

"Where? The only place to go is ashore."

"Exactly."

"Are you crazy?" someone spoke angrily.

"Listen. Those guys are either capture us or kill us, I think the latter."

His contradictor gulped. Owen looked around the group of faces. Each of them found his line of reasoning logical. He withdrew a map from his bag and spread it out on his lap. He pointed at the drawing of Isla Pena and the three markings.

"According to this thing there are three research stations on that island. Alpha, beta and gamma. Now I've been told that all of them are abandoned, but that station beta and gamma were pretty much unscarred by the storm." he explained.

"But that was a long time ago. Do you think there might still be a functioning radio there?" a man in the front asked.

"I hope so."

"And what about the dinosaurs?"

"The records say that on Isla Pena do not live any dinosaurs." someone remarked from the back.

"You believe those records?" the front guy replied.

"No I don't." Owen answered, "But that's why I put these aboard before we abandoned The Insula."

He lifted a watertight bag meant for supplies that after opening contained not food but rifles. Someone suggested why not to use them to fight the transport. Owen waved the idea away. He preferred to avoid a firefight altogether and if they would pick up arms and win they would simple be blown to bits by the long-range cannons.

Owen tried to convince the other lifeboat, however after the speech of his contradictor no-one was inclined to listen to his arguments. They began to row towards the island, saving the emergency engine as a last resort. When the Ukrainian transport reached their friends, they were already more than hundred metres away. The man threw them a rope which they tied to their lifeboat.

"Hey look! They're getting saved!" one of the rowers alerted.

Everyone stood up to see what was going on. Then the horror began as a rattling sound was followed by screaming men, falling over the sides. The transport had activated its M60 heavy machine positioned at the bow. The InGen sailors were simply executed on the spot. The gruesome scene spurred the second boat into rowing even faster. The isle was still a long way to go, yet they had to try. Meanwhile Owen had distributed the guns. The armed men lay low, hoping that they were able to surprise their assailants and get to land before the mothership knew what was going on.

"Here they come!" he spoke softly.

The men pulled back the safeties and glanced over the sides at the incoming vessel. The Ukrainians reloaded their guns to repeat their course of action and were expecting no weaponry aboard that tiny thing. They gained on the lifeboat and prepared to unleash their rain of death once more when something hit the side of their boat. Owen watched them stop their engine. Afraid that their trap was spotted, he looked around to confirm if this was the case. Indeed, nobody had betrayed his rifle. Suddenly his eye caught a shape in the water.

"Woah!"

One of the men let out a cry of surprise as his paddle was snatched from his hands. Owen watched in horror as he leaned over the side to see what happened, not realizing his mistake.

"Don't…!" he yelled.

A pair of jaws the size of a man's lower arm leaped out of the water and grabbed the man's face. In a fraction of a second he was pulled over the side, leaving a red cloud in his wake. The other rowers dropped their paddles in a fright and all tried to get away from the sides. Meanwhile the next victim was dragged over the side by the vicious crocodilian creatures. Owen didn't know what to do. Those things were so fast and he had never dealt with aqueous animals before. In the corner of his eye he spotted the invaders who were blindly firing into the water with various kinds of automatic weapons. Still some of them were taken, proving the agility of the man-sized monsters.

All of a sudden, the raids on both vessels seized. Owen counted at least six men gone and saw how the remainder pulled aboard a guy from the water. Missing a leg, but alive. Fortunately all InGen employees had received a first aid training so that they could act in case of an accident with one of the 'assets'. The man's leg was bandaged and taken care of. During the moment of silence, Owen was able to make eye-contact with their pursuers.

"Guys, the guns." he hushed.

He stared at the incoming gunboat and both parties waited to get close enough to be certain that the other wouldn't be able to dodge the incoming fire.

"Steady…" he whispered.

Just when Owen wanted to signal the attack something heavy bumped the side of their boat with such force that he lost his foothold and fell into the water. He opened his eyes and saw an enormous dark silhouette moving away from him. It looked like the things that attacked them minutes ago only with a longer tail and much bigger. Slowly, the enormous animal turned around and headed straight for them. Before he could distinguish any other details, hands grabbed his shoulders and hoisted him back into the boat.

"Oh my god…" he let out, realizing what he had just seen.

"What, what is it?"

The Ukrainian man cursed at them and pulled back the lever on his M60.

"The mosa…, the mosasaur" he stuttered, "it is here."

"What?"

"We have to get out of here!"

A huge burst of water next to them uncovered a gigantic head. Its jaws sank down into the hull of the Ukrainian transport, shattering it completely. Two of its occupants were tossed into the sea and the M60 with it.

"FIRE UP THE ENGINE!" Owen cried as loud as he could.

The serpentine tail of the Mosasaurus flapped above the surface and gave the side of their boat of powerful blow, jolting it forward. One of the men yanked the cord of the outboard engine without any result. Owen pushed him aside took a deep breath and pulled harder than he had ever done. With a snorting sound it started, gave a jolt and began pushing them towards the beach.

"Come'on baby." Owen encouraged it.

Suddenly he heard the familiar whizzing of bullets close to his head and he cringed to avoid getting hit. The Ukrainians were no less determined by the attack and their own vessel bitten in half, they were poised to claim the lifeboat as well. Owen praised InGen for choosing small metal boats over rubber rafts as her heard the rounds bounce again the side. Again, water was thrown into the air as the gaping mouth of the marine reptile arose from the depths. Shards of metal flew around as the teeth cut through the transport, its two remaining occupants gulped up by the massive creature.

_End of chapter_

* * *

_**The next chapter will take a wee bit longer. This weekend I'm away and I got some other stuff to fix next week. Anyway, I suppose you'll see it when its online :) .**__  
_


	10. Nine

_**Just as I had predicted there was some delay with my update. Please enjoy chapter nine and feel free to comment in a review. **_

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Through his binoculars, the businessman had seen it all happen up close. The Mosasaurus had trashed the transport and eaten its occupants. He cursed the animal and rubbed his forehead to think. Just when he concluded what to do the captain emerged from the bridge hut.

"What do we do now, mister Jacobson?" he said.

"Perfect timing. Contact Ivan. Have him and his men prepare a welcome-to-shore party for the InGen associates."

"Aye aye sir."

The man went back inside to do as instructed. Yamagata stood next to Pavel as always silently awaiting a command. The Yakuza never hired a blabbermouth and spontaneous speech was rare with any of their militants. Yamagata was no exception to that rule. He only spoke when he was asked to do so. Pavel appreciated this most of the time, but now he wanted a second opinion.

"What is on your mind?"

The Japanese man looked at him questioningly. His former life also taught him not to be too straightforward with his own input. Those that were had their tongue cut out, and that was if they were lucky.

"Come on. What do you think right now?"

"What was that thing?" he eventually said.

"I have no idea, but whatever it is I want it dead."

"How?"

"I don't know yet." Jacobson sighed.

The captain reappeared from his steering cabin and the look on his face betrayed that he had bad news to bring. His instincts told him that Pavel wasn't very keen on bad news right now. He postponed as long as he could, until at last his superior caught sight of him.

"Yes?"

"Sir, Ivan is not in the camp." he spoke softly.

"What?!" Pavel sparked.

"He's not there."

"Then where is he?"

"They say he went into the jungle to find Aleksei."

Pavel started cursing out loud, insulting God in more than one tongue. The captain was glad he didn't get the anger poured over him, yet did a few steps back in case his boss would change his mind regarding that matter. Everyone in the direct vicinity copied the captain's safety precaution. Once the swarm of insults had subsided, Pavel stared at the sea.

"Prepare a transport." he determined after a brief moment.

All around, people started mumbling with their neighbours. They had all watched in horror as their colleagues had been devoured by the enormous sea monster and now their boss wanted to go out onto the water as well.

"Well?!" he yelled impatiently.

"Sir, are you sure it is safe to go out?" the captain asked carefully.

"Of course not." he laughed morbidly. "That, my friend, is why _you_ will be going, not me!"

"But Pavel, who will control the boat if he's gone?" Yamagata posed.

Although he normally wouldn't dare contradict his boss, he had felt the need to point out that sacrificing the captain was a bad idea. The captain looked at the Asian with gratitude.

"Hmm."

Jacobson thought of this for a second, once again staring at the vast blue. Finally he turned around with a diabolical smile.

"You're right Yamagata. And since you were so helpful in pointing it out, you'd better go in his place."

He walked back inside. Everyone outside quietly gazed at the bodyguard.

"Godspeed sir." the captain said to him.

"I don't believe in God, but if I did, I wouldn't ask him to come here." Yamagata responded deadpanned.

.

Everyone had followed the argument at the end of the column consequently all fell silent upon seeing the rustle in the bush. Ivan made a couple of gestures and the mercenaries made a semicircle around the target. When he clenched his fist, the bush was shredded with bullets for a few seconds. One of the men walked forward and pulled away what was left of the shrubbery. He bent over and picked up the remains of a parrot. He laughed derogatorily and the rest joint in.

Then a eardrum-piercing screech and a velociraptor jumped on top of the man, tearing his head from his torso. The frightened soldiers began firing at the reptile, but as a result were too late to react to the other raptors that leaped from the surrounding undergrowth. Ivan called out in Ukrainian and managed to shoot one of the attackers through the head, yet many more were quick to the scene.

"We have to get out of here!" Alan shouted to everyone around him.

As he ran, he felt the vegetation swipe at his arms and face, but he had to keep going. He glanced back and saw the old professor shortly behind him. He maned him to halt.

"Where is Malcom?"

"I-eh…" the elder replied looking around confused.

The snarling of Velociraptors could be heard, followed by a man crying out loud. They resumed their run for safety. Neither knew where they were going, however staying was in any case a worse option than blindly sprinting through the jungle. After a few minutes, the sound of the battle died away. They slowed down.

"What do we do now?" Arie asked, breathing heavily.

"I don't kno-.."

Alan tumbled over a solid object and landed face first into the mud. His friend handed him a handkerchief. While he cleaned his face, he looked back at what caused him to fall. It was the corpse of a man. Arie did a few steps back and held his nose.

"Is it Aleksei?"

"I don't think so." Alan said, inspecting the body.

"Another hired-gun?"

"No, this can't be one of Jacobson's men. Look."

He pointed at the scraps of cloth stuck to the fleshless ribcage. It was white and wore a different symbol than the Ukrainian mercenaries did. It pictured an anchor with a seagull flying in the back. This man was a sailor, yet none of Pavel's sailors had set foot on land, let alone that either of them went this far inland. Who was this man?

"Alan…"

"Hmm?"

He broke free from his thought and followed the Dutchman's stare at a building in the distance. It was severely scarred by weather and time, yet might provide cover. They walked over to its entrance, wary of every sound. Grant yanked at the door, yet it didn't give in.

"Oh come on! How can it be locked?!" he cried in anger.

"Sssht!" Arie suggested.

He gestured at the moving bushes behind them and Alan's heart skipped a beat. With bated breath they waited for whatever it was to come out. This was it, third time's the charm. He wouldn't be able to leave this island in one piece, not again. He felt how Arie squeezed his arm, but the pain was hardly noticeable due to the vast concentration of adrenaline that pumped through his veins. Suddenly a black stature emerged from the greenery.

"Ian!" he called out.

"Oh hi." the mathematician said dryly.

"Where have you been?"

"Well you know, running for my life, trying not to get killed. Daily matters."

"How did you get that?" Arie asked, pointing at the gun in his hand.

"I stumbled across Aleksei. Or maybe it was his friend. Anyway, he was happy to lend me his gun since he didn't need it anymore."

He pointed at the concrete building behind them and asked why they hadn't gone inside yet. Arie explained that it was locked. Ian found it hard to believe and tried opening it himself, to the same disappointing result.

"Why is it locked?"

"We don't know!" the doctor responded agitated.

"Okay, easy Alan." he said, surprised by his friend's abrupt hostility.

Out of the blue, the door unlocked and opened up with a creaking noise. A man dressed in a stained white outfit appeared in the opening and gaze at them in astonishment.

"How come you are still alive?" the man asked.

.

With a moaning sound, the metal surface of the lifeboat scraped across the sandy beach. The last hundred metres to the beach had been exhausting as the outboard engine had given up. Luckily the potentially lurking Mosasaurus was motivation enough to impel the men into rowing. Now they tossed their tired bodies in the sand, never happier with the feeling of solid ground. Owen looked around the many faces and realized that most of them appeared under the impression that the worst was over. He shook his head because of that naivety. He appointed three men to help him and they unloaded the boat. Additionally, they tried to distribute the scarce supplies as best as possible.

"Alright everyone, gather round."

The group clustered at Owen's location and listened with interest to what he had to say. Every doubt about him which they might have had at first was all gone since his decision to flee had saved their lives. He took out a red marker and marked their current position with a cross. He then pointed at station Beta and discussed the plan out loud to ensure that those in the backrow also knew what the undertaking would include.

"So we head out for the nearest station, which is Beta. Hopefully there we can make contact with Isla Nublar and find shelter."

"What if we encounter dinosaurs?"

"I've given rifles to those who claim to be the best shooters among us, so if none of boasted about their skills I believe we'll be reasonable protected."

"They're coming!" someone called.

All turned their attention to the alerting man. When Owen got to him, he handed over his spyglass and pointed at The Russian Jewel. An armoured transport was being lifted onto the water. Owen tried to distinguish the amount of men on board and increased the magnification, but they were simply too far away. He handed the man his piece of equipment back and once more addressed his colleagues with a loud voice.

"The hostiles have not given up on us yet, but if we leave now we'll have a good head start."

"Who says they won't be eaten just like the others?"

Others cheered for this comment, but Grady easily wasted the theory.

"We weren't either, remember?"

The enthusiasm vanished as swiftly as it had emerged and after providing the men with a heading, the group left inland.

.

"So, you've been here for more than a week?"

The man nodded sadly. Once Alan, Ian and Arie had gotten inside, they found that the inhabitant of the building was not alone. All around, men watched them as they entered, some carrying improvised spears made from iron bars. Every single one wore the same emblem: the anchor with the seagull in the background. The leader of the band of castaways explained that it belonged to the containership upon which they had all sailed. It had crashed over a week ago and they had been stuck here ever since. Alan explained their own situation in as much detail as he thought necessary up to the ambush by the raptors.

"The animals on these islands are large and aggressive. Many of the man that had made it to shore with us weren't as lucky as we were."

"Define lucky." Malcolm let out.

"Hence the spears." Arie concluded.

The man nodded. His name was Raymond and he turned out to have been the first mate aboard.

"We've lost many friends till we eventually came across this building."

"But where did you live from all this time?" the professor wondered.

Raymond explained that some of the structure's features were still operating, among which the cooling system of the food storage and the pressurized water supply. Although Alan knew it was a stupid question, he had to ask whether the phone worked. The first mate shook his head.

"Believe me, we've tried." he said, "During our stay here we've attempted multiple ways to communicate with the outside world, but it cannot be done."

"What about somewhere else?" Ian demanded.

Raymond clicked his fingers and one of the sailors brought him a map.

"Look, we are here."

"Station Beta." Arie read.

"Yes. Now there are two other facilities on this island, Alpha and Gamma."

"Excellent, how fast do you think we can reach those?"

Ian was given a tentative look by all of the men around. When he asked why, he was given an answer he could have thought of himself.

"We'd rather not leave this place. Those things out there…"

"Velociraptors." Alan corrected.

"Whatever. It's just not safe to go outside, okay?" Raymond stated with a certain nuisance by Alan actually giving the satanic creatures a name.

"We know that, in case you forgot, we just came from there." Ian sparked, "You think staying here is so much better? Sooner or later you will run out of food. Moreover, are you sure you want to spend your last days cowering in a damp bunker with only men as company?"

By the looks on their faces, Ian knew he had given them food for thought.

"Even if you're right, what do you plan to do?"

"I think it's worth a shot to check out station Gamma. If this base still possesses some functional features, maybe that one does too. Perhaps even a phone to call a cab."

"It's worth a shot, but why Gamma and not Alpha?"

"Well, during my previous deadly camping trips I've learned that you'll have better signal at the coast." he replied. "Also, if we go south we have a chance of running into our Ukrainian friends again and as much as I'd love to spend another couple of days in captivity I'll pass this time."

Raymond looked at the doctor, confused by the high degree of sarcasm Malcolm exerted. In reply Alan raised his arms as to symbolize that he didn't what drove him to that either.

_End of chapter_


	11. Ten

_**Hey people. Sorry it's been so long. I find it harder than I thought it would be to write multiple stories at once. I'll soon be picking up this one more steadily as the other I had been focussed on is reaching a close. Read along and please enjoy!  
**_

* * *

**Chapter 10**

The company had been traveling for quite a while now. Most of the men were getting tired, which led to Owen cutting in a break. As everyone caught their breath, he put down his backpack and withdrew the map. According to his estimations, they were almost at station beta. Unintentionally he looked back from where they came. The Russians were probably at the beach by now. Luckily they would soon be able to fortify their position inside station Beta. Unless the enemy would bring a tank, there was no way they could be reached after activating the lock down modus. That was of course if the storm hadn't completely wrecked the building. Although the reports had indicated that it was left untouched by the weather, Owen had learned the hard way that such reports aren't always to be trusted blindly. But that was back then, in the army. However, were things much different now? He was still wandering through unknown, potentially hostile territory with a group of trigger happy communists on his tail.

He slowly walked around the groups of people and took in their faces. Each of them looked exhausted and scared. He came to realize that there were a few women too. A subconscious sense of duty had him feel like it was solely up to him to get every one of them home safely.

He awoke from his thoughts by noise in the distance. He hushed and his neighbours copied him to make sure everyone became quiet.

The noises got closer.

Owen whistled softly and a few rifle-armed men stepped forward. They formed a line, ready to shoot at whatever was about to come. They had done this about five times already on their way here, yet all those times it had been false alarm. The benefit was that the entire team was now drilled and had become a well-oiled machine. As if the previous times had been rehearsals for this very moment.

"Steady." Owen whispered.

The rustling got nearer every second. It felt as if this time it wasn't going to be nothing. The men around him seemed to sense it too. All appeared more on edge than before. By the volume and intensity of the disturbance it had to be big. Then, one of the men called out.

"Those are people!"

.

Alan froze upon hearing the voice. His friends too exchanged faces of surprise. As the group started to mumble they worked their way to the front. Raymond was talking to a man with a brown leather vest, a green shirt and black trousers. The man was young, yet seemed experienced. He introduced himself as Owen Grady, a member of a band of InGen employees that was sent here to investigate a breach in the wall of the Mosasaurus habitat.

"I believe that our mutual friends are responsible for that." Ian said.

Owen gave him a surprised look, but reckoned he meant the crew of The Russian Jewel.

"You came here with those Russians?"

"They're Ukrainians actually." Arie pointed out.

"Whatever, why are they here and why are you here?"

Ian explained how he got kidnapped and subsequently ended up joining them in their 'holiday trip' towards this island. In doing so, he used an annoyingly high amount of intentional understatements and cynical expressions. This led Owen to believe that where other humans were more than sixty percent water, this man consisted of more than sixty percent sarcasm. Alan added his and Arie's side of the story to the explanation. Since Owen didn't understand why Pavel would chose to abduct these seemingly unrelated people for his cause, Alan subsequently elaborated on the fact that both he and Ian had visited these islands before .

"So you are here by accident?" Raymond asked.

"Sure am." Arie replied smilingly.

"And that doesn't bother you at all?"

"Believe me, if I had the time to sit down a sob about it I would, but thus far I haven't seen any possibility."

The first mate frowned. He knew that this was a dangerous place, yet he didn't find that reason enough to simply accept that one was taken here by mistake.

"He's got a point." Owen grinned to him.

"So, you came here to scare them off? I-eh… hehe, I have to say it worked beautifully." Ian laughed scornfully.

"Hey we lost some good men out there. Don't joke about it."

Malcolm made an apologetic gesture and backed away a little. Owen continued when he noted that the man had more or less accepted that his remark had been disrespectful.

"We only came here to fix a hole in the perimeter. We weren't expecting this kind of resistance. They caught us by surprise. We weren't really equipped to deal with eh… what are they, poachers?"

"Mercenaries. They came to shoot dinosaurs and sell the bones to collectors." Alan said.

"Is that profitable?"

"It doesn't sound like much, but a complete dinosaur skeleton is rare and people are willing to pay a lot of money for it. And where better to find complete skeletons than inside a complete dinosaur."

Owen nodded in agreement. He didn't know much about archaeology or historical value, although whenever something was rare, it always caught the attention of the black market. He turned to Raymond.

"That still doesn't explain what brought you here?"

"Me and the other sailors originate from The Nelly."

A man behind Own recognized the name and asked the first mate to verify that they were the ones that had sent an emergency transmission to Isla Nublar. Raymond nodded. When the other questioned about the lack of coordinates, he explained that they had sunk before they could pass them on via the radio.

"I don't mean to disrespectfully interrupt your tea party, but ought we not discuss where we are going now?" Ian intruded.

None of the people could appreciate his way of depicting their conversation, although each of them realized that he was right. They had to get moving, standing around was a waste of time and probably dangerous. Owen suggested that his plan was still a go.

"We were headed for a nearby bunker called station Beta. From there we're gonna try to alert our main facility at Isla Nublar."

Raymond shook his head.

"Phone's dead. You're not going to contact anyone from there."

"Are you sure?"

"Did any of your men knew we were here?"

Owen looked at his company. Most of the men shrugged or shook their heads, clarifying that none possessed this knowledge. Raymond pointed at them with an open hand.

"There. Now I'm sure."

Ian sniggered at the man's dry response. He couldn't have said it better in that position. Owen frowned. To condone the angering remark, Raymond elucidated the InGen-ers on their own plan. Head for Station Gamma, hope the communication is intact and try to broadcast an emergency transmission from there. Owen confirmed that Gamma was indeed still operational, at least on paper. He also warned that traveling that way would inevitably lead to a clash with their pursuers. Ian added that turning back would mean collision with other Russians. Observing the map for a couple of minutes, it was clear that there was only one way left to go.

"So we have to go south-east."

Raymond's eyes shot frantically from one face in the group to the other, Alan bit his lip, Ian played with his glasses and Arie scuffed the ground with his foot staring at the sand he kicked up. The ranger didn't see the problem. It was evident that he had to ask straight away before he was given any explanation however.

"I have a hunch that you are not acting this way because it's just a few miles longer." Owen stated.

"Your hunch is correct actually." Ian answered.

"Then what is the matter?"

"Ever heard of a velociraptor?"

His colleagues turned white and behind him everone began to chatter restlessly. He rubbed his sideburn. The name was familiar and from what he has heard they aren't the kindest of creatures.

"Can't say I know the details, but I don't think we have any alternative."

Reluctantly the academics accepted this fact and thus the trip continued on this new route. The armed men were spread equally over the larger group and in midway the convoy Alan, Ian and Arie had found their place. Raymond was at the back to pick up any stragglers and Owen was up front. After half an hour however he put another man in charge of the map and he came walking next to the doctor. His curiosity was enticed by these dinosaurs. He wanted to learn more in case they were to encounter these vicious beasts. Alan was glad to have something to talk about instead of merely marching on in the silent tension that roamed in the band. Happier yet with the fact that Owen proved a good listener.

"They are two metres tall reptiles that hunt in groups. They communicate via a complex set of vocals and screeches. It is this high intelligence that makes them far more dangerous than any modern day creature."

"Sounds like you know quite something about them."

"Well, most of it is speculation of course, but some of that holds true for the raptors bred by InGen."

Owen nodded. These animals were not truly velociraptors. From what he had heard, he knew that most of the dinosaurs here were part frog. An idea popped into his head.

"You said they can communicate?"

"Oh yes. And very efficiently too."

This answer amplified his faith in said idea.

"Have you ever tried to make contact?" he asked thrilled.

Not only Alan gazed at him in utter amazement, Ian who had been eavesdropping swallowed the wrong way upon hearing this proposal. Grady looked disturbed as the mathematician coughed. He didn't reckon the man to be vile, yet a real pain he surely was. He turned his attention back to the doctor. Although his interlocutor had non-verbally rejected the idea at first, he could see the intellectual exploring his memory.

"Well. The last time I was here, I did have some kind of interaction with them."

Owen nodded intrigued.

"One of my companions had stolen the raptors' eggs. It was only a matter of time before the parents caught up with us. My guts had told me to go through my knees which seemed to favour them as they didn't strike us down."

"I think it has to do with dominance. The moment you lowered yourself, they sensed that you accepted them being higher in rank."

"Oh yea, right right! And afterwards they had you scrub their nails and wave a fan?" Malcolm made fun of him.

"No Ian, I think he's right. When we were down on the ground, one of the velociraptors stood out as head of the pack. She was probably the lead female."

Ian slowed down to distance himself from the two, sulking that he didn't receive any support. He still thought it was ridiculous to pretend one could communicate with those bloodthirsty animals. In his experience, they had never shown any hesitation in killing a human being.

"So what happened next? They let you go?"

"After we had given them the eggs, I found the 3D replica of a velociraptor's vocal chamber in my bag. A student of mine had given it to me. I tried my best to recreate the sound of an animal in distress."

"Did it work?" Owen asked greedily.

If InGen had raptors on Isla Nublar in the new park, which they undoubtedly had, this might be an important piece of information.

"I thought it did as they ran off, however it turned out they were just scared off by the helicopters that came to rescue us."

Owen stared at the ground disappointed. Alan caught his sadness.

"I was equally let down, though we simply don't know how to produce the appropriate sound for a situation."

"Yea. I guess you're right."

_*Rattle, rattle*_

One moment they were conversing peacefull, the next, a rain of bullet hailed down on them. All fell to the floor, some injured, most unharmed. Owen nor Raymond could see whether anyone had been killed. It didn't seem that way. Two jeeps, followed by a large armoured transport vehicle crushed out of the undergrowth, tailed by a vast group of footsoldiers. The marching horde desperately formed a clump of people as the soldiers circled them and herded them together like sheep. As the rumbling sounds of the vehicles' engines faded to a steady humming, a familiar face climbed out of one of the jeeps.

"What is this, who are you?" Yamagata yelled agitated, referring to the sailors.

"We might ask you the same thing." Owen demanded, standing upright.

As this drew the man's eyes to him, they also caught sight of his previous hostages.

"Well, well. It seems we are in luck boys." he taunted, "we can kill all birds with one stone."

The mercenaries laughed out villainously. The sound of Kalashnikovs being filled resounded between the trees.

"Hey, I asked you a question!" Owen called out again.

"We are the last faces you'll ever see... Round them up!"

_End of chapter._


	12. Eleven

_**Hey guys. I haven't been giving this story a lot of attention lately and I apologize for that. I meant to finish it during the summer, yet there was another movie I had been writing for and I'm not very potent if I'm writing multiple stories at once. However, that story is finished so now I'm going to attempt wrapping up this story as well. (But I do not intend to end it in a rush, that would make it terrible to read.)  
**_

* * *

**Chapter 11**

The villainous Ukrainians had surrounded everyone. There was no escaping. The academics as well as all others braced for their final moments when all of a sudden a screech echoed through the woods. Stunned at first, nobody, friend nor foe realized what was going on. Similar sounds were emitted in response from various locations. Alan neck hairs perked upright. Those sounds could only indicate one creature in particular and that meant a massacre was going to take place.

"This is going to get really ugly." Alan whispered to his friends.

Ian too had recognized the high-pitched noises as well and nodded in reply. Just then the screaming begun. First only one, but more followed as the velociraptors initiated their assault. Gunfire, howling and Ukrainian prayers waved through the atmosphere. The soldiers forgot all about their original targets, as did Yamagata himself by the way. He was busy emptying his enormous revolver into a raptor that was clawing the driver of his jeep.

"This is our chance, go, go!" Owen cried to any man that listened.

Raymond followed his example and soon Arie, Alan and Ian did too. As all were familiar with the plan, all who could escape would be heading for station Gamma. Unfortunately, the dinosaurs had not chosen a side. They were equally inclined to lunge at one of the good guys as well as their enemies. The animals simply attacked anything within their sights.

In the background, one of the mercenaries that occupied the armoured carrier opened the hatch. His idea was to throw a grenade into the swarm of lizards that tore open his fellow countrymen. He pulled out the safety pin from the bomb and locked onto his target. Then, something happened the man had not foreseen. Somewhere from the chaos around a random bullet dug itself into the man's upper arm, with a dramatic consequence. The pang it sent through his limb caused him to drop the explosive into the vehicle itself. Too late to correct this, the APC was disintegrated, sending shards of metal all around the warzone, devastating to all who had unfortunately been too close.

Thus far Owen had been picking up any stragglers he encountered and did not see the danger coming. He was thrown onto the ground and his ears buzzed as he tried to assess his wounds. It was then that he discovered that not the blastwave, but Raymond had pushed him down. The first mate laughed at him. Before Owen could thank him however, he coughed up a some blood and ceased breathing. A chunk of the APC's plating had pierced the chest. Owen closed his eyes. He felt a guilt that there was nothing more he could do for the man that had saved his life.

As he looked around, he didn't spot anyone left to save but himself. In the corner of his eye he caught sight of a motorcycle. He made a quick sprint and checked whether it was still operational. He felt a short moment of happiness when he found that it was. He reached out to mount it when he heard a bone chilling hiss. He turned around slowly. Two metres away from him stood one of the lethal man-sized reptiles. A shiver went down his spine, both from fear as well as excitement. He could also be overtaken at any time the raptor saw fit, however the fact that it hadn't attacked yet made Owen confident that this was an opportunity to try communicating with the animal.

"Easy, you're the boss." He spoke softly.

He went through his knees, made himself small and showed his hands. The animal seemed confused by this strange response to its presence. When Owen sought eye contact, it let out a screech. Immediately he glanced down. His heart pounded in his ears so hard that it drowned the sounds of battle around him.

Then he heard a agonizing howl. He looked up and noticed that someone had shot the raptor. He had no time to find out who. In a fluent motion he jumped onto the motorcycle and turned open the gas.

.

Alan was astonished to see so many of them hunting together.

'They must have joined forces once they detected our large group.' he thought.

The explosion had separated him from his friends and in the chaos he didn't know which way to go. He had decided to simply run as hard as he could. While running through the fields of carnage, he was philosophising about why they were hunting in such a large group. Just when he thought to have made it out alive, one of the velociraptors leaped onto him. Just in time Alan broke free from his assailant by unstrapping his bag, praising the unorthodoxly big thing for sacrificing itself for him. Sadly, the dinosaur was not fooled for long and as Alan frantically crawled backwards, the animal realized it had been ripping apart a lifeless piece of cloth.

The raptor got up again and hissed precariously. Then, out of nowhere, Yamagata charged in. Alan's eyes widened. The Asian had nothing but a sword, yet was still assured of victory. Soon though, it became clear that this was a far more dangerous weapon than Alan had given it credit for. Yamagata was very well trained in using his katana. It was as if the blade was an extension of his arm. It rotated and twisted in nigh impossible ways. The raptor was mesmerized by this deadly display and for a moment seemed to forget it was battling a lethal opponent. Suddenly, Yamagata lunged forward and slashed the reptile's eye. It cried out in pain and retreated.

"That was pretty amazing. Thank you for saving me."

" Nobody deserves to die by the hand of these demons." The man said emotionlessly.

He wiped the blood from the katana and pointed it to the doctor.

"That doesn't mean that I won't kill you now."

"What?!" Alan let out surprised.

"I still have my orders." he continued and slowly walked towards Alan.

Thr latter saw no way to talk this man out of this mission. For what Alan had learned about Yakuza soldiers, he knew that their loyalty was unquestionable. Once given an order, Yamagata would rather die than fail.

Unexpectedly, the loud pound of a gunshot brought the blademaster to a halt. Blood dripped from his chest and he fell on the ground.

"You shouldn't have brought a sword to a gunfight." Owen's stated tauntingly.

Flabbergasted, it took Grant a few seconds to realize that the ranger was gesturing him to jump on the back of the motorcycle. He didn't like those. They were too unstable, too bumpy, too…

"C'mon! We don't have all day!"

The hesitancy vanished as the scream another man being massacred reached his ears. It was reason enough for him to ignore his former fear of the vehicle. He sat down and grabbed hold of Owen's shoulders.

"Alright, now hold on! This's gonna get rough!"

As they drove away, Yamagata cursed out loud in his native tongue. With all his energy, leaning on his sword, he managed to get on his knees. Then he heard a growling close to him. From left to right, he found multiple raptors surrounding him. Although the katana in his hand was encouraging, he no longer possessed the strength to wield it. He would probably not get out of this alive. He heard them make clicking sounds to one another and expected all of them to jump on him at once. Then, a fear clasped his heart as the horde of reptiles moved aside to let one of them step forward.

"You?" he let out as he noted the scar on the creature's left eye.

His muttering was answered with two pairs of knife-like talons being drilled into his chest and four rows of teeth tearing through his face.

_End of chapter._


	13. Twelve

_**Hey followers! I'm determined to finish the story first, so you can expect another update soon. Hopefully you're still hooked, I try my best to keep it exciting! Thanks for your support! (And a merry christmas to those of you that celebrate it as well! )  
**_

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**Chapter 12**

"What?!"

Once he had returned to the encampment, Ivan had gone back aboard The Russian Jewel as soon as he could. He didn't want to stay a minute longer on that godforsaken island. Showing up on the vessel empty-handed however raised more than a few questions with the head of the expedition. As he reported the misfortune of both his and Aleksei's undertaking , Pavel's anger rose to new heights.

"Yes, all of them." he continued.

"How?!"

"There were these things -.."

"Velociraptors."

Pavel was not to only one to have walked away from the fight. The man next to him had gladly followed his squad leader's example in turning his back on the rest to save his own skin. What the man unfortunately had not foreseen was that Pavel wasn't a man who was keen on failure among his soldiers.

"Yes, those!" Ivan nodded frantically.

"And _those things _had weapons too?" the Russian asked cynically.

Ivan had heard this tone before. It was dangerous to continue making excuses, even if those excuses were the truth. His comrade on the other hand did not possess this knowledge.

"No, but they were so fast! They jumped us before we even knew it and -.."

_*BANG*_

The mercenary looked at his chest in astonishment. The blood started flowing rapidly from a hole that wasn't there before. With an expression of utter disbelief his eyes locked onto Pavel before the life vanished from them completely and he fell aside onto the deck.

"So…" Pavel continued.

Coldblooded as he was, he was unshaken by the fact that he had just shot one of his own men. He breathed onto the barrel of his revolver and took out a handkerchief to polish it until it blinked in the sunlight. He paid no attention to the body that was dragged away by two bystanders.

"If I understand correctly, you, a group of heavily armed men, lost to a pack of ancient brainless reptiles?"

Although what Pavel stated was incorrect in more than one way, Ivan knew better than to argue with him.

"I'm sorry that we failed you. We were-.."

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT YOU FAILED ME!"

Pavel's phone rang and he answered with an aggressive voice, annoyed that he was interrupted in the middle of punishment. He might not like it when his men disappointed him, he sure loved making them pay for their mistakes. The man on the other side of the line also knew this, thus he started the conversation by making humble apologies to avoid getting chastised as well.

Meanwhile, Ivan waited. He was angry but powerless. Pavel's outburst was completely unjustified in his opinion. His boss had not seen these creatures, he had no idea what they were capable of. As the conversation on the phone proceeded, his boss's voice became less sharp. A grin even appeared on his face when he hung up. This was either a good sign, or a very, very bad one.

"You know, Ivan. I was inclined to make sure you'd suffer a fate even worse than your pal over there…"

The fact that Ivan had no clue who the corpse was that was being thrown overboard was irrelevant at this point. Pavel never paid much attention to such details in the first place, let alone that it was worth the trouble now.

"…but you are in luck."

"W-what?"

Ivan, who expected a severe and immoral penalty was left speechless by this abrupt and apparent fortunate turn of events. Pavel walked to the side of the ship and leaned on the railing.

"From what I've just heard, it seems that your stunting has led to something good after all."

Even though it was impossible for Ivan to understand what this was about, Pavel shook his head and sighed loud as to indicate that he found his interlocutor to be slow-witted. He gestured and Ivan went over to stand next to him. Pavel pointed at the transport that was headed for The Russian Jewel. Ivan's eyes became twice their normal size.

"Are those-.."

"Yes Ivan, they are." Pavel replied, slapping his hand on the man's shoulder, "And we caught them thanks to your incapability to do anything properly, isn't that ironic?"

"Sir! We need you at the bridge!"

"What for?" Pavel asked unkindly.

He didn't like to be summoned anywhere, no matter what the urgency.

"You'd best hear that from the captain himself."

.

Once Alan and Owen had caught up with the rest, the former had been relieved to be able to get off the infernal dirt bike. At first it hadn't been so bad, but soon after he had left the zone of mortal danger and the adrenaline had vanished from his system, it had become true torture for his backside.

Upon their arrival, Grady had suggested to continue to station Gamma and so it was that the flock of refugees had proceeded on their journey and were now close to their goal. Most of the men had gotten out of the battle safely, though some had not been so lucky. The news that Raymond was one of those unfortunate souls had quickly spread through the ranks. With the first mate gone, the sailors were left leaderless and therefore they too had turned to the ranger. No-one had said in those exact words, yet everyone knew this was the case.

Owen had been reluctant to accept any more responsibility. He had tried to find the next in charge among the crew of the Nelly, however he hadn't been able to locate such a person. Either there was no-one left that was high in rank or they didn't have enough faith in said man to appoint him. A third possibility could also have been that the man himself hadn't been willing to step forth, because he like Owen himself didn't want to be responsible for all these people.

"So you're saying that you communicated with one of them?"

During the long walk the ranger had informed Alan and the others of his encounter with the raptor and how he had been able to prevent it from attacking. Alan and Arie were very interested in the details. Ian on the other hand scoffed the man, accusing him of a rich imagination. Owen ignored him and continued his story.

"When I showed him that I respected his dominant position, it ceased its attack. It actually seemed to understand about my submissive behaviour."

Malcolm snorted depreciatingly.

"The only thing it understood was that its target had become a whole lot easier to tackle."

"Ian, for goodness sake, let the man talk." Alan remarked, fed up with the mathematician's intrusions.

In response he made an apologetic gesture and subsequently walked a little slower to distance himself from the, in his eyes, ridiculous conversation.

"It sounds to me that you were indeed having interaction with the animal." Arie confirmed.

"Yea, but the question is, was it truly accepting your actions, or was it just confused that you acted like a raptor?" Alan posed.

Owen rubbed his chin. He hadn't thought of that. Acting like a velociraptor was one thing, being a different species could also mean that body language would be interpreted in a different way. They didn't have more time to discuss it any further as they were summoned to the head of the line. They had arrived at station Gamma.

As they moved towards the front end, they encountered many relieved faces. Everyone was glad that they had reached the station now as it was getting dark and who knew what kind of animals would hunt here at night.

Inside, Owen's suspicions were quickly turned to hard facts. The station appeared to be in excellent working condition. Even the food storage had remained untouched all this time. Not that all the food had survived for such a long time of course, but there was more than a fair amount that was still edible. Especially the beer was just what the group needed. Most of them were terrified or in shock from the atrocities they had witnessed. The gruesome carnage the velociraptors had caused was something most people would not see in a lifetime. Therefore, the alcohol was the perfect remedy for the men and women to whom this had been too much to bear.

Arie was new to this kind of violence as well, though he was not as undone by it as some of the others. He had been a German captive during the second world war and was therefore not unaccustomed to cruelty. Owen had fought in a war as well and was therefore also familiar with bloodshed. Alan and Ian were no survivors of war, but they had seen dinosaurs before and these previous encounters had led to similar results as they had today. That didn't mean however that either of these men weren't in need of a drink. Such scenes tend to haunt a man for his entire life, causing restless nights with sweaty nightmares.

"Cheers!"

Ian had secured a bottle of scotch from the storage and a couple of wineglasses. The slender glassware wasn't supposed to be used for this kind of liquor, yet nobody cared. The strong beverage was a necessary reset for their minds. They needed to contact someone in order to get off the island, the sooner the better, and it was better to do such with a cool head.

"I sent someone to check whether the phone's working here." Owen informed.

"You _sent_ someone?" Ian asked teasingly.

"Yea, the only privilege of being the elected leader: nobody questions me, but you."

Alan laughed at Owen's payback. Unfortunately for him, the mathematician wasn't ready to surrender this verbal fight.

"Glad to find that you actually listen to me then. Those people are hard to come by."

Now Arie sniggered as Alan realized that this was a reference to himself.

It wasn't long until Owen's man returned with the good news that he had found a functioning radio. The four of them, equally thrilled, gathered in the communication's room to confirm this report. The ranger pulled a piece of paper from his jacket. Arie peeked over his shoulder and saw this piece of paper had various frequencies written on it. He could not distinguish which one his friend choose, yet he trusted his judgement.

He had called out every minute. At first there was no response, but after ten minutes they got a noisy rustling reply. Ian hissed a victorious 'yes' and the others nodded enthusiastically. The man's voice, which they expected to hear turned out to be a gentle, feminine one.

"… Mister Grady… that you?"

Owen drew a surprised face. Thus far he had only met one person that refused to call him by his first name.

"Claire?" he answered, twisting the knob in the hope of improving the incoming sound.

"We … what happened… contact…"

"Our ship was attacked by hostiles. We're stuck in station Gamma, but we are in danger. Can you extract us?"

As an army man he knew that over the radio it was best to state the essentials loud and clear rather than get lost in details.

"... ship... hostiles … don't …"

"Can't you get the line more clear?" Ian asked frustrated.

"I'm trying, alright!" Owen retorted with the same agitation.

"Here, let me."

Arie leaned forward and gave a smack on top of the machine with the palm of his hand. Almost immediately the sound from the radio was dead sharp. He smiled to Alan who applauded softly. Computers and other electronics usually seemed to hate the doctor.

"… what hostiles, repeat, what hostiles?"

"They are Russians-.."

"Ukrainians." Alan corrected.

"Ukrainians, they want to steal dinosaurs, they are heavily armed and they're the ones that sunk our ride."

"Stay put, there's already a second ship underway. We've sent them your coordinates."

Owen was about to ask for details, but she beat him to it.

"It's a frigate, commissioned to us by the U.S. Navy to help us should a situation like this occur. It left two days ago and could be at your position in approximately twelve hours."

All men in the room looked at each other and nodded impressed. A Navy vessel picking them up and protecting them from the mercenaries was very good news. It had been a long time since they last had some good news.

"Copy that. We'll be looking out for its arrival."

"One last thing, mister Grady. How many of the crew have survived? I hope not a lot have died?"

Owen frowned and he felt the eyes of his companions in his back. Every loss had been one too many, surely she knew that? He thought back of Raymond, the most recent man who'd gave his life to save his own. The way she stated it made it sound like it was only a minor issue. Unintentionally, this question had made him slightly angry.

"Thank you for the good news Claire, we'll talk again once I'm back."

Before she could reply he shut down the radio.

When he stood up from the chair and turned around he looked at the painful faces of the others. He expected them to ask why he wouldn't want to give her any numbers. The truth was that he didn't want to be confronted with all the men he had lost already, whilst there were still so many left to save. The question he got however, was something else entirely.

"Why does she call you _Mister Grady_?" Malcolm asked.

It took him a few seconds to reply, but then he laughed.

"I have no idea, I think she likes me."

The others joined his laughter.

"Owen."

A man had entered the room. His face was filled with fear.

"Can you please come with me."

"What, why?"

"Because I'm asking you to." a familiar voice answered.

All the smiles vanished as a bald man with a goatee stepped followed the InGen employee through the doorway. He drew an ugly grin as he raised a glock at Owen's face.

"Please."

_End of chapter. _


	14. Thirteen

_**In my opinion I believe I might be writing a little differently than in the earlier chapters. If so I apologize, but I think that it might be better this way. Enjoy this next update.  
**_

_**Also, Happy Newyear to you all!**_

* * *

**Chapter 13 **

The dark shape of the hull of The Russian Jewel grew larger as their boat was cruised towards it. More than before, Alan thought the ship was not only filled with villainous people, the colouration itself also exerted a certain hostility. They were moving as fast as possible. Nobody wanted to risk staying out on the water for too long after having seen the Mosasaur in action. Alan noticed that The Russian Jewel itself was also moving, yet not at high velocity.

"How did they find us?" Arie asked.

Nobody had been able to give anything close to an explanation. All around him Alan saw the same thing on the faces of each of the men and women. Anger and surprise. He could relate to those emotions as he himself was stunned that they were found by Pavel's men again. Ian and Arie sat beside him with similar thoughts. The three of them all felt somewhat cheated by the abrupt takeover after believing rescue by InGen's Navy vessel was imminent.

Even this Owen Grady seemed rather downhearted. What Alan didn't know is that Owen, despite appearances, had not given up yet. He only pretended to be so that they would pay less attention to him. He was thinking hard of ways to delay the potential departure of the Ukrainians. He had spotted the crane already in motion, indicating that they would probably load the transports. This combined with The Russian Jewel cruising through the water was enough evidence to suspect that the raiders might head home soon. Everyone may have forgotten about the frigate, he himself certainly hadn't. He was brooding on a plan to escape and/or cause enough delay for the Navy vessel to arrive.

It took about an three hours for everyone and everything to be aboard The Russian Jewel. It was not the way there that took long, nor the boarding of the prisoners which went rather organized and quickly for such a large group. It was the loading of the transports. The crane on the deck was slow and securing the attachments of both of the two remaining boats took much time. Not to mention the fact that the giant cargo ship was still cruising, creating waves on both sides. This made it difficult for the transport raft to stay close for long. It was merely that the Ukrainians had done it so often already that they managed to do everything successfully within relatively little time. Not that Pavel was ever satisfied.

"Finally, you are here. What took you so long?" he asked Ivan.

The man opened his mouth to speak, but Pavel already continued.

"It doesn't matter now. I see you've returned me my friends. How good of you to join me again." he said cynically.

"Yea, we missed your warm personal-.."

Ian's reply was cut off by the businessman's clenched fist hitting him at speed. The mercenaries around them smiled or laughed contentedly. They were all glad that for once they were not the victim of their boss's aggression. Apart from that, Ian had also not been able to make a lot of friends among the crew with his sarcastic behaviour. Arie thought that he was probably the least-liked person of all the captives.

"Now then..." Pavel continued, shaking his hand as it hurt a little the resistance Malcolm's face had provided. "I believe most of you are wondering how we managed to find you on such short notice."

As he detected that many of his enemies exchanged glances that confirmed said matter had indeed been on their minds for the past two hours, he smirked. Alan had already said to Arie that he reckoned Pavel to enjoy being the centre of attention. The show he was putting up now was a confirmation of that statement. The Dutchman rolled his eyes upon hearing the speech.

"Well, that is quite simply really. You see, this ship is equipped with the most modern technology possible. We have…"

As the man continued his monologue, Owen hid a smile behind his hands. That's right, keep on talking. The longer your story takes, the sooner that frigate is here.

"… one of these pieces of equipment allows us to intercept nearby radio transmissions. And lucky for us, you were so kind as to send one."

The muttering amongst the prisoners increased, much to the pleasure of the rich Russian.

"Now, if you'd all follow my associate here. He'll lead you below decks where you'll spend the rest of your time here."

Owen cursed under his breath. He had to drag out this conversation. Not that he would be able to stretch it up to nine hours, but ever bit helps, not to mention that the twelve hours Claire had mentioned was an approximation.

"Wait. How did you get here so fast?"

Owen praised himself for thinking of this question. It was a reasonable one to ask as the time that had passed since their first transmission and the arrival of Ivan at station Gamma was too short for the huge ship to have moved already. Hopefully it would even trigger another anecdote.

"Interesting that you should ask. Fate had it that we were passing by your station when we intercepted your signal."

"So it was just dumb luck?" Ian said.

He was getting pulled back on his feet by two other prisoners. Whereas others would think twice before speaking afterwards, the punch he took was no reason for him to be less talkative.

"If you want to put it in those words, then yes." Pavel spoke, showing a slight irritation.

Ian smiled internally. He had chosen those words exactly to disabuse the Russian businessman, who had been bragging and acting haughtily for quite some time now. The remark, however, disrupted the long-winded story Owen had been hoping for.

"Now mister Propov will escort you to the belly of the ship."

He gestured Ivan, who copied the gesture to the rest of the men.

"Wait!" Owen called, "Why were you sailing by station Gamma in the first place?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out."

He was forcefully brought in line with the rest who were all about to be brought below decks when an alarm rang. Almost simultaneously a door swung open and a man came running towards Pavel. The Eastern-European language was incomprehensible, yet from the faces of the men Owen read the news he was hoping for.

"What's going on?" someone called.

"They're here? Already?" Alan asked softly, standing next to him.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Something definitely caught their attention."

"But that woman said twelve hours, those haven't passed right?" Arie said.

Owen shook his head lightly. At exactly the same time, Pavel's eyes crossed his. The man gestured madly to the soldiers to bring take them away. The three academics were left behind. Downstairs, the intercom of the ship echoed various commands throughout the ship. On their way down, they were passed multiple times by men rushing. Urging themselves to the designated station. It wasn't long before they got to the place Pavel had intended for his prisoners. It was a divided section of the cargo hold. It was cold and damp. Stacked against the sides, there were ropes, chains and crates. And before Owen could ask what was going on, the hatch slammed shut and they were locked up.

.

On the bow, Pavel stood with a couple of his men next to a huge cannon. The men were armed with heavy weaponry. Most had sniper rifles, some had machine guns. The cannon was filled with a large iron bar that had a small, but sharp triangle on the end. A harpoon. Next to it, a short man sat in a chair. Through his glasses, he stared at a green gridded screen on the laptop on his lap. Pavel, to appease his clear need for attention, had allowed his three original guests to watch.

"Alright, I guess you're wondering what I plan to do with this."

He didn't expect a reply, neither did he get one.

"I'm going to kill that enormous creature that lurks in these waters."

"You mean the Mosasaurus?" Arie corrected him unintentionally.

"That's the one. My guy here..." he said, patting the man on his shoulder, "spotted him on the radar a few hours ago and we've been tracking him ever since. It's funny how it eventually lead us right by your hiding place."

He laughed at his own joke and the surrounding men joined. Although they probably did not know why, it was always wise to pretend that one appreciates the boss's sense of humour. Specifically with the short-tempered Mister Jacobson, with whom you might end up with a bullet in your skull if you didn't.

"I thought you only hunted to acquire intact skeletons? With that harpoon you'll be shattering it's bones!" the marine palaeontologist pointed out.

"True, but this one I will kill solely for my own satisfaction. In my cargo hold I already have something of greater value than I had planned for." he smirked diabolically when he thought of it. "The problem is however, that the Mosasaur has been avoiding us. Each time we see him on radar, we weren't able to keep up with him."

He looked at the men in front of him, waiting for a reaction. This time, he stayed silent until one of them answered.

"And what do you want us to do about that?" Alan asked.

"Good that you ask." he said joyfully.

Pavel whistled to a nearby soldier, who went below deck. It was evident that he had been waiting for this question. Alan figured the businessman was even a greater lover of drama than Malcolm was. After ten minutes, the soldier returned with one of the InGen employees. It turned out to be the wrong person, agitating Pavel not by the least.

"No-no-no, you brought the wrong one you idiot. I asked you for the captain of the group!"

The confused mercenary jabbered something in a foreign tongue, subsequently pointing at the stars on the man's shoulders. It was pure coincidence that the man's shirt had a pattern similar to that of captain's rank in the army. Pavel slapped himself with the palm of his hand.

"Oh, never mind." he said annoyed by the miscommunication, "Then we'll use this one."

"Use him? What for?" Ian asked.

Pavel sniggered delighted and his good mood was resurrected.

"Any of you ever been on a hunt?"

They looked at each other, but all shook their heads.

"No? Well, then I'll explain. Whenever your prey is always eluding you, you have to find a way to lure it in. Make _it_ come to you, so to say."

"And how do you do that?" Alan asked, although he feared he already knew the answer.

The Russian man laughed again, this time far more evil than before.

"Oh naïve Doctor Grant, with bait of course!"

_End of chapter._


	15. Fourteen

**Chapter 14 **

The Russian Jewel had stopped its engines some time ago and was finally reaching a full halt. Its large mass had required some time to brake, but now that it was motionless, Pavel ordered his men to set out his lure. Under guidance of a lot of screaming, kicking and pleading, the man who had be misidentified as captain of the InGen survivors, was hauled to the bow of the ship. He was shackled with chains on the end of a construction similar to a small crane. Pavel coldly elucidated that the device was actually meant for painters, to repaint the hull of the ship when it peeled off. For the occasion, he had had the chair on the end replaced by chains. The poor soul was punched in order to remain still enough for the soldiers to bring him and the lift to the edge of the deck.

The others were so undone by this inhumane action that they were lost for words. The cruelty displayed here was crazy, no, downright insane!

"You can't be serious?!" Alan managed to produce eventually.

"Oh can't I?" Pavel laughed scornful, "Lower him… and don't forget to cut him first!"

The man was already dangling on the side of the ship when one of the soldiers bent over and made small incisions in the man's arm and face. With the blood already dripping in the water, he was slowly lowered to the surface. To hear such pitiful cries from a grown man was bone-chilling. Every inch closer to the water made the man beg harder. Ian couldn't bear it anymore.

"This is madness! This is insanity! This is -.."

"NECESSARY TO TEACH YOU WHO'S IN CHARGE!" Pavel shouted in his face.

There was no changing the man's mind. The shackled InGen worker was now waist deep in the water. He was nothing more than a piece of meat, ready to be eaten by an enormous Mosasaurus.

"Moreover" he continued, "you forced me to take drastic measures. By calling for help, you left me no choice but to rush my operation."

"You sick, twisted son of a -.."

Ian was knocked down with the rifle of one of the soldiers.

"That's life, Doctor Malcolm. You should be glad I didn't choose you to hang down there. I advise you to be careful that I will not change my mind!"

But he had no time to change his mind on anything. The man with the glasses alerted all bystanders that he had detected a shape on his scanner. From the size of it, it could only be the Mosasaur. Luckily the man constantly pictured everything he said with his hands, else none of the three non-Ukrainians would've been able to follow the conversation at all. Seemingly the animal was circling the boat. Everyone was looking over the sides, trying to spot the giant creature. Surprisingly, it had concealed itself excellently. None were able to spot it, even though it was over twelve metres in length.

"I don't like this at all…" Ian shivered.

"Why isn't it attacking? You think it senses the trap?" Alan questioned.

Arie shrugged. He had no answer either. He may have studies the bones of this long-extinct creature, that didn't tell you anything about its behaviour when it had been alive. Surely there were hypotheses and speculations, yet none of them were a hundred percent accurate. Moreover, this variety of Mosasaur made by InGen had an altered gene pool. There was no telling what effect this might have had on its way of thinking.

In a split second, everything went wrong. The Mosasaur's tail caused a roiling effect when it suddenly decided to change its course. The man that was operating the harpoon misread the splashing water for surfacing. He had seen whales do so as well and in an instant believed this creature was doing the same. He dexterously swung the cannon's barrel in the targeted location and fired the iron pin into empty water. At the same time, the Mosasaur had turned for the semi-submerged man and with a bloodcurdling scream, said man vanished behind the rows of teeth.

"Dear God…" Ian let out as a cloud of red formed in the water.

Pavel cursed his men in both Russian and English as they began reloading the weapon as fast they could, hoping to have another shot before their prey disappears again. When the weapon was operational again, only the back of the creature was still visible. Pavel pushed aside the soldier and took the matter into his own hands.

"I got you now!" he cheered.

Before he could fire however, Arie pushed against the barrel of the cannon. Consequently, the harpoon landed a couple of metres right from the Mosasaur. In his anger, Pavel lashed out at the old Dutchman, only to miss him because Alan pulled the elder away. As the outlet of his aggression was another fail, the tension he sought to release only doubled.

"I told you not to let those Americans walk around!" the man with the glasses spoke.

This was a fatal mistake. Without even looking at him, the businessman seized the guy's shirt, pulled out his gun, shot him twice in the gut and tossed him overboard. The soldier who had operated the harpoon tried to address this mistake as subtle as he could.

"But sir, if he's gone, who will control the radar?"

"Do you want to join him?!" Pavel snapped.

He frantically shook his head.

"Good, then go and find someone that knows how to work this thing."

That only had to be said once to the guy to send him running from to the bridge. Not that he was so eager to find a new technician, not at all. He simply want to get as far away from his boss, who was at his most dangerous when he had lost his temper. The sooner he was out of there, the better.

"And throw those traitors with the rest." Pavel shouted.

As they were taken away, an alarm rang across the ship. This paused the men that escorted them for a moment.

"What's that about?" Alan thought out loud.

Arie gestured at the men that leaned against the railing of the ship. They were shouting and pointing at a small figure in the distance. It was still tiny, but he and his friend knew it could only be one thing: the frigate had arrived to pick them up.

.

Down in the cargo hold the alarm was also clear to be heard. The shrieking resounded loudly through the large space waking up all its inhabitants from their dull state. Owen witnessed how it generated unrest amongst the seven guards. They argued intensively until eventually the hatch was opened from the outside and another appeared. He called out five names and much to Owen's satisfaction, the five addressed men left the room. That made overpowering them a whole lot easier. At the same time, Arie, Ian and Alan were thrown back in. What also pleased him a great deal, was that the hatch was shut, yet he didn't hear a lock. Chances were that it was left open in their rush.

He quickly went over to them, tailed by a few of his colleagues. After making sure they were alright, he asked about the missing man. Alan elaborated on the inhuman activities that have been pursued on the bow. Owen wished he hadn't asked a thing. The news that the frigate was nearing, however was the news he had been waiting for.

"Alright, if there is ever a time to escape, it is now." Owen whispered, "Two third of the guards are gone and I think the door isn't locked."

"What makes you say that?" Ian wondered.

"I think they forgot to lock it down."

"How sure are you of that?"

Owen bit his lip.

"About ninety percent."

He checked if all of the men were willing to commit to these statistics. He was glad they all nodded. His colleagues also showed, were it a smile or a wink, their agreement on the matter.

"Okay. John, Stan, you take the left guy. Arnold and I bring down the other."

The guys nodded.

"Are you sure you can take them? They've got guns." Alan pointed out.

"We've gotta try."

"You know what you need? A diversion." Ian said.

He walked over to one of the other men and pretended to tumble. As a result he collided with his target and both fell on the ground. As expected, the man responded annoyed, telling him to mind his step. Ian had foreseen this response and retorted by saying that he had and that it was not his fault. The Nelly's sailor, because that is what he turned out to be, did not like to be blamed and pushed Ian away. Ian went on by insulting his lack of strength for which he once again took a serious blow to the face.

One of the guards decided that he had to break up these two fighting prisoners. Owen and Arnold secretly moved closer to the mercenary near the door. When the peacekeeper was in front of Ian and yelled at him in Ukrainian, Stan and John dove at him, slamming the man to the ground. Simultaneously, the other guard was jumped by Owen and Arnold. In the struggle that followed, the prisoners came out on top.

Alan explained the quickest way to the lifeboats. He, Ian and Arie had seen this part of the boat before, hence they knew which way to go. Meanwhile Ian apologized to the man he had previously insulted. The sailor didn't hold a grudge and even apologized back to him for hitting him so hard. Ian said it was nothing, although his nose was bleeding heavily.

"At the end of this trip, my nose will have a different shape." he remarked when the sailor walked away.

"Better than having it bitten off, don't you agree?" Arie smiled.

_End of chapter._


	16. Fifteen

_**Hey folks. I've got another chapter here. My updating is still slow, but I do what I can. **_

_**Yes, I have changed the title. In truth I found my previous one a bit lame. I knew I could do better, and yes, I believe this one is better ;)**_

* * *

**Chapter 15**

Owen appeared to possess acute hearing. Either that or he had guessed correctly, because when they pulled the lever of the hatch, the door opened immediately. The unoiled hinges shrieked as the thick door opened. Fortunately, the alarm was so loud that nobody had heard a thing. Moreover, all of the soldiers were called to the battle stations and near the cargo hold, there were none.

"Everybody, follow the professors. They know which way to go. Arnold, John, you stay by their sides. If you encounter a hostile…"

"We shoot 'm, got it." John confirmed.

"What about them?" someone asked.

The question concerned the unconscious guards.

"Once they'll wake up, we'll be long gone."

As the group of people slither like a snake from the cargo hold, into the hallway and down the first stairs, Owen watched. He was searching the line for two people in particular. It didn't take long for the first to show himself. A whistle was enough to notify Stan that he was asked for. Stan was one of the few guys with a gun as well as one of the few people Owen knew well enough to trust him with his life. Stan had served in Afghanistan, but got decommissioned when he received an almost fatal injury from a roadside bomb. Shards had been littered throughout his chest, yet miraculously, none of those nine shards had hit anything vital. Although he himself had, after recovery, been no less eager to serve his country, his wife saw this a warning from God not to tempt fate any further. As a result of all this, Stan had come to work as security guard on Isla Nublar. What none could've predicted, was that he had put himself in even greater danger than before.

Owen had gotten to know Stan during their exhaustive journey from the beach to Station Beta. Time and again, he had shown himself helpful to his fellow travellers. This had been a reason for Owen to get himself some background information about the man.

"There he is." Stan said, awaking Owen from his flashback.

"Hey, Ian!"

Malcolm also seemed to be aroused from thinking. When he stepped out of the tail section of the group, he sensed that Owen was waiting for the line to end before addressing the issue he had on his mind.

"So, as you know the frigate is here to take us back. There is no reason _not _to assume that a battle with this ship is going to unfold for them to achieve that. I'm not sure who has the advantage at the moment, but I think we need to make sure that we have it."

"Where are you going with this?" Ian demanded, despite knowing very well what the ranger had in mind.

"I want to dismantle as much as possible. Create chaos and what not."

Ian shook his head, placed a hand to his temple and let out a sigh.

"As much as I like chaos, I'm not sure why you want _me_ for this."

"I need someone I can trust and that I know to be brave and strong enough to help me out."

"Why not ask Alan, or Arie?"

"I figured them to be a little…" he paused.

"Old?" Stan filled in.

Visualising the old Dutchman in action was a funny thought. They sniggered. Despite laughing as well, Ian had grown serious admiration for the elder man. He had been more than resilient for his age, especially under the hostile circumstances that they had been facing time for the past few days. Still, he agreed with Owen that asking him for this was a bit too much.

"But why not ask one of your crew? Why _me_?" he asked again.

"Because, you've seen this ship before and you're somewhat familiar with it, yes?"

Ian exploited his mind, hoping to find an escape, though the ranger's reasoning was rock-solid. In truth Ian could think of nothing to refute his arguments, hence let out a sigh of accord.

"Alright then, I think I know what you might be looking for. Follow me."

.

Pavel had joined the captain on the bridge. In silence he was staring through the huge window in front of the steering wheel. He squeezed his eyelids together to see better the nearing figure in the distance. It was a vessel of the US Navy, that was certain. He had seen his fair share of them when working as a spy for Russia. In contrast to the masses, he still regarded the United States as an enemy to the motherland. When the cold war had ended, he had persisted on landing a secret attack on the US before they did. He had 'kindly' been told to let it go. Instead he had participated in a group called SPEC, the _Sovjet Communistic Extremists Cooperation_, that had shared his point of view. He had quickly risen through their ranks and his input in their recruiting, planning and most of all smuggling had made him a wealthy man. On the other hand, it had also placed him on both Russia's and America's most wanted list. If he was caught by either, he'd be dead for sure.

He had sought refuge in Ukraine, where the extremists' group still had a powerful influence. He had lived there for quite some time, doing whatever he liked, whenever he liked it. After a while though, he had begun missing the action and decided to pick up one of his old habits. Smuggling. With all the markets covered he had chosen a completely different path. In a documentary, he had witnessed people laying down serious cash for complete dinosaur skeletons. This unexploited area of illegal trading had been the distraction he had been looking for.

"It's a frigate. You can see it from the shape of their bow." Spartak said from behind his binoculars.

Spartak was ex-military and had served the interests of the same group Pavel had been a member of. Thus far remained out of the businessman's way, however now that a Navy ship had presented itself, it was time for him to step in.

As an old friend, he had joined Pavel on his mission, yet this was not the whole story behind it. SPEC had gladly provided Pavel with troopers for his smuggling, were it not for thirty percent of all the gains. To make sure Pavel didn't hold anything back, Spartak was assigned as his co-commander. He had been so kind as to have pointed out that the for every casualty, another percent of the income would go to the organisation. According to Pavel's calculations, he had only about forty percent left now. As if it was his fault that these men failed to do their job. Still, the contents of his cargo hold were so valuable, the venture would still be profitable.

"Can we take them?" Pavel asked, supressing his anger over SPEC's greed.

"We have more fire-power, yet they are more mobile." Spartak contemplated.

"But can we take them?" he repeated impatiently.

"I think it's about fifty-fifty."

"In other words, you don't know!" Pavel snapped.

The captain bit his lip. He had agreed to sail for this assignment because he had been afraid of getting into real combat. Dropping them off on the island and wait for them to return, no hazards involved. Now this. He was not keen on combat. He was a coward, who'd hide as best he could until the fight was over.

"It doesn't matter anyway. As long as we've got hostages, they have to keep us alive."

Then, the news came nobody had expected.

"Sir… We've got a problem…"

The whole bridge turned as one man to the messenger. He was panting from his sprint up the long stairs.

"The prisoners… they… they escaped!"

"WHAAAAT?!" Pavel cried out.

"The camera's indicate that your Doctors are leading them towards the life-rafts.

"If they manage to get off board, there's nothing that keeps that frigate from sinking us!" Spartak advised.

"I thought you said it was fifty-fifty?" the captain questioned.

"Yea, perhaps I failed to mention those are the chances for getting either captured or be killed."

His interlocutor shrunk to half his size behind the steering wheel.

"If they escape-.."

"They won't! You, you, with me. And bring those guns." Pavel said determined.

He had enough of those bloody Americans. He had only kept them alive as hostages, but now he just wanted to kill every last one of them. When he left the bridge, Spartak heaved a relaxed sigh. Finally, he could do things his way without that hot-tempered Russian intervening.

.

Ian sneaked across the hall and stopped in front of a door. He gestured his two companions to come over silently. He placed his ear on the cold iron and listened carefully.

"If my estimation is correct, then behind this door is the turning axis of the larboard cannon." he whispered.

"Is it guarded?"

"I have no idea, but it doesn't seem to me that someone needs to operate here. Everything goes from the control room."

Owen counted to three with his hand, after which Ian opened the door as fast he could and the others barged in. In the middle of the room was an enormous cogwheel of which the axis went all the way up to the roof. Against the sides were various pipes, beams and panels, all leading to unknown parts of the ship. They were welcomed by a lot of engine noise, however apart from that there was no-one.

"Great. And what do we do here?" Owen asked.

"No idea."

"Seriously?" Stan let out.

"Hey, it was your idea to disable their weapons. I only brought you here."

Owen smacked himself in the face.

"Fine, we'll have a look around."

The three men investigated every possible outlet, wire and panel. After a few minutes, they were spooked by voices on the hallway, yet they passed by almost immediately. They had no reason to expect anyone in here and were likely in a hurry to get to where they were truly needed. Eventually, Stan's eye fell on a particular cupboard next to the cogwheel.

"Guys, I think this is what we need."

The other two joined him as he forced the iron covering off, revealing the underlying wires.

"If this is what I think it is, cutting it will disable the rotation mechanism." he said, pulling out his carpet knife.

"And if it isn't?"

"Then I'll probably fry myself." he laughed.

Just then, an excruciatingly loud noise filled the room as the cogwheel began to turn. Stan said a quick prayer and sliced all wires at once. The wheel hampered for a moment and then halted, along with the noise it created. Simultaneously, a faint alarm went off.

"How did you know that would work?" Ian said, patting the man on his shoulder.

"I've fixed a few cars in my early days. It's almost the same."

Before Malcolm could respond, Owen hinted them it was time to leave. They snuck back to the door, however when he placed his hand on the heck, Stan and Ian stopped him. People were once again passing by. Luckily they spoke English this time.

"I want them all dead, you understand?"

Ian recognized Pavel's voice.

"Yes sir."

"And have someone to check on the raptors in the cargo-hold. I want to make sure they didn't escape as well!"

Only when the sound of his agitated cursing died away, Ian dared to speak his mind.

"Raptors? What was he talking about?"

"From what I deduce, they captured a few." Stan said.

Ian glanced at him annoyed. That was obvious, that was what Pavel had said. What he had been wanting to know was how. He looked at Owen. The man looked intrigued by this new piece of information. If he would set loose these raptors, they could wreak havoc among the crew and turn the battle to their favour surely. It would also cover their escape perfectly. Ian recognized something he didn't like at all.

"No. No-no-no. I see what you're thinking. No way. No!"

"Think of it, releasing those velociraptors is ideal for our situation."

"Ideal? It's insane! Those things don't choose a side. You think they'll shake your hand when you break them out? Hell man, they bite it off before going on to your other!"

"Stan?"

"Sorry chief, I agree with Malcolm on this. It sounds too dangerous."

"Okay, then we'll do it this way. You get as fast as possible to the lifeboats and make sure everyone is on it. Hold the last one for me."

"What are you up to?"

"I'm going to find the raptors. If I'm not there in one hour, leave without me."

_End of chapter._


	17. Sixteen

_**Hey followers. It's been a while again, though I had some things to take care of. Here's my latest update, please enjoy.  
**_

* * *

**Chapter 16**

The first explosion caused a terrifying tremor across the entire ship. The cannon on the back of the ship had been disintegrated. The moment it began to turn its barrel, the frigate had immediately fired a round at it to prevent any harm that it might cause. The main cannon of the Navy vessel was now locked onto the port turret, not knowing it had already been sapped of its energy. This was due to Stan ruining a vital circuit board. The only reason for their reluctance in destroying it was that not far from it, the life rafts were being lowered into the water. On it were the InGen employees and the Nelly sailors. The commanding officer of the _Cathalina, _the frigate that had arrived, had been notified of these escaping prisoners and had therefore chosen to postpone firing.

Owen had felt the vibrations too. He had nearly fallen down the stairs he had been walking. He was on his way down to the lower level of the cargo hold to locate the allegedly captured velociraptors. So far, he had searched the remainder of their level, but to no success. Slightly defeated at first, he had learned from the safety plan that there was a second floor, underneath the first. He was now at in front of the hatch that led to it, though there was no telling what was on the other side. All he knew was that if the dinosaurs werethere, so would be their guards.

"Alright, let's see what we got."

He opened the door carefully. Halfway, he realized there was no alternative to finding out besides peeking around the corner. In a quick dash, he popped his head in and out of the space behind it. Nothing. Just another hallway. He sighed relieved and stepped through. Suddenly he heard someone screaming. He froze. Had he been too quick in judging the place to be deserted? Seconds later he heard a familiar screech and knew straight away that the shout was not meant for him.

He pinpointed the noise and found one of the doors in the hallway ajar. He looked inside and saw the three ancient predators in an iron cage. It was an extremely unsafe way to keep them this way, he thought. If anything wandered to close, they'd still be able to snap at it through the bars.

A guard emerged from the space he couldn't see. Instinctively the ranger did a step back, yet the guard paid no attention to the door, hence did not notice him. He was completely focussed on the violent reptile that snarled at him.

"Moya ruka!" he heard someone whimper.

By the sounds of it, this person was the first to have gotten to close to the cage. Owen gently pushed open the steel door a little further and tried to pick out a place where he could hide. After all, he had to get in if he wanted to set the scaled creatures lose. About two metres next to him began a row of crates. The perfect spot, if he wasn't seen on his way in. He figured the best way to get in was to move slow rather than fast. A quick motion would be caught by human sight earlier.

"Here goes." he encouraged himself.

As he snuck in, one of the reptiles growled again. This fortunately drew the attention of all the four Ukrainians inside. Already they proved to be an excellent distraction Owen thought with a smile. From his vantage point, he could now see the other three men as well. One of them was, as he had predicted, wounded. The blood seeped from his hand, and it appears he was missing a few fingers. A second put a bandage on, whilst the third watched him do so. The fourth was the guy rattling the cage with a pipe. If he believed to be silencing the dinosaurs this way, he was failing miserably. The barked at him aggressively.

Owen observed the entire scene and bit his lip. It was going to be more than challenging to get it all done and for a moment he acknowledged Ian to have been right about his plan being reckless and stupid. The cages were opened or closed via a small control panel on the place of the lock. This was very unpractical, yet he figured that the Ukrainians had no intention of opening the cage anyway. Looking at it that way it was merely unpractical for himself. Even if he knew what numbers to dial in, in doing so he had put his hand dangerously close to the velociraptors. Moreover, opening the cage would set loose the killing machines in an instant and there was nowhere for him to seek shelter in this room. And then he hadn't even addressed the matter of the four guards.

He was so busy puzzling, that he noticed too late that the fourth guard had turned himself around. The man called out to the unoccupied soldier, who drew his Kalashnikov. Owen duck behind his crate just in time.

*Pock, pock, pock*

The bullets slammed into the wood. He realized how lucky he was that the boxes were capable of withstanding the gunfire. He pulled out the pistol he had won from one of the Ukrainians earlier. He opened it and counted six bullets. That wasn't nearly enough and he cursed himself for not thinking of checking the chamber before. Then, his eye fell on a combination of letters and numbers written on the side. He pulled out his army knife and cracked it open. Exactly what he was looking for: it was an M16 rifle. Meanwhile the men had ceased their fire and Owen heard them draw closer.

Without aiming, he placed the pistol on the edge of the crate and fired randomly at his assailants. He heard them yell in reply and knew from experience that they sought cover. His gun was now empty, but they couldn't know that. By the time they figured it out, he had already loaded this M16 rifle.

Quickly, though not too hastened he armed the military equipment, finishing up by clicking in the magazine. He waited with bated breath for anyone to make a noise and betray their position, yet it was quiet. Even the raptors made no sound at all. The longer the silence lasted, the more Owen got the feeling he was being outmanoeuvred .

An idea came to mind.

He pulled out his army knife again and held it out above the crate. Luckily he was so neurotic in cleaning it, else he wouldn't have been able to use it as a mirror. In the reflection he caught sight of two Ukrainians. One of them had a dagger and was sneaking up to him. The other had his rifle aimed in order to cover his pal whenever that was required. Seeing the knife, he reacted by sending a few bullets whizzing Owen's head.

Owen crouched further along the line of crates until he had reached a point where he could once again oversee the room, but also his former hiding place. He was closer to the cages now, so close he could even hear the breath of one of the velociraptors. It made him uneasy, yet he kept his wits together. Sooner than expected, the mercenary jumped over the crate slamming his dagger into backside of the crate. The short duration that it took him that there was nobody there anymore was long enough for Owen. He cried out when the ranger's M16 wounded him mortally and he fell on the ground like a lump of clothes.

Immediately the second guy began unloading his rifle at Owen's new position, but the wall of crates was even thicker there so it was a useless effort. However, having given away his position, Owen now headed back to the corpse of the mercenary. The loud noise of the other man's rifle covered any sound he made, thus it was unlikely he knew he had moved. Unfortunately, something happened that took away this advantage.

The other Ukrainian had completed applying the bandage and he and the injured now joined the fight. The lack of two of his fingers was for the wounded no hindrance as drew a pistol from his belt. They split up to come around from all sides. Owen was trapped. He calculated whether it was possible to rise up, shoot one of his enemies and seek cover again. He rejected this thought. The men might be slightly dim-witted, as ex-military it was impeccable that they aimed swift enough to catch him in his act. No. It was over. He wouldn't be able to fight off all three at once.

One of the raptors purred. It made Owen realize he had one last trick up his sleeve. The idea was insane, and it might as well result in his own death. Nonetheless, he had to try. He chance of surviving would still be larger than when he would be waiting for his enemies to get to him.

He took a deep breath, leaned to the side, aimed the M16 and pulled the trigger.

Almost with a victorious intonation, the first velociraptor screeched when it saw the automatic lock detonate by the impact of the bullet. It knocked open the cage door and lunged at the nearest mercenary. Too late did he saw what the M16 round had resulted in and his face was torn to shreds in the blink of an eye. The second man knew what was happening and unleashed an array of bullets upon the thing that ate his friend. He was so terrified however that he missed nearly every single one.

By the time the second and third raptor stepped out of the cage, his rifle was empty. He cast it aside and sprinted for the nearest door. It was locked and although he had a key, his adrenaline-fuelled panic made him miss the lock time and again. The first raptor let out a short snarl, causing another to run towards the key-wrestling soldier and dig its razor-sharp claws into said man's back.

The last guy alive knew better than to try and avenge his comrades. He charged into the hatch, almost tumbled over and made a mad dash towards the stairs. Owen watched it in slight amusement. Until a certain hissing.

On top of the crate stood one of the raptors. It looked down on him in a more than unfriendly manner. Owen knew he would be too slow to shoot it from this range. He employed the same technique he had done on the island. He lowered his head and put his rifle on the floor. This time it didn't work as well. In response, the reptile growled viciously and seemed unable or unwilling to accept his communicative signals.

Owen slowly started to move backwards. Behind him, the crates were stacked more tightly. Hopefully he'd be able to squeeze himself in between and at the same time, the raptor could not.

Suddenly, the lead raptor made a strange sound. A kind of bark he hadn't heard before. The animal before him answered in a similar tone. He couldn't resist looking up. He gazed in utter amazement as the three dinosaurs showed sign of actually having an argument, and it took no academic to see that he himself was the topic.

As if this wasn't stunning enough, the leader overruled the others and gave orders to let him be. When the carnivores subsequently left the room, it took Owen a few minutes to process what had happened. Was this dumb luck? Or had he truly been spared as a token of appreciation for releasing them? Had he really seen the animals have a conversation? And for that matter, had they really been arguing over what to do?

The tremors of a second explosion on deck shook him back into reality. Setting the raptors loose was one thing, now he had to get off this ship.

_End of chapter._


	18. Seventeen

_**Hey all. As you have undoubtedly noticed I'm not writing so fast lately. I'm sorry about that, but I've been otherwise occupied lately. I'm (yet again) determined to finish this story soon, maybe this time I'll actually manage to do that :D. Cheers!  
**_

* * *

**Chapter**** 17**

Two of the life rafts were already on their way to the Cathalina when the bow canon of the container ship was set ablaze. The devastation was so close that Ian cursed out loud.

"If we stay any longer, we're next. Where is that guy?"

"Maybe he didn't make it." Stan outed downhearted.

"Maybe..."

Ian checked his watch. He had done so multiple times now. The hour Owen had set for his solo mission had already passed ten minutes ago, yet the two men were reluctant in leaving their mutual friend behind. But eventually, the man operating the life boat reckoned that sticking was no longer an option.

"We can't wait any longer guys. I'm sorry."

He and a few others were the last to leave. The previous two boats had already set course for the frigate, and it was time to follow their example while they still could. Upon descending, they passed slowly by the floor below them. There, Stan caught sight of the missing ranger.

"Wait. There he is!" Stan cried. "Owen! This way!"

He was running like the wind. When Stan called out his name, he changed his direction towards them, simultaneously revealing the reason for his hurry. Two Ukrainians emerged from around the corner, emptying their rifles however they were not firing at Owen. Even further back, two raptors also appeared, and they were overly hungry.

One of the InGen'ers aboard aimed his rifle to provide cover fire, but Ian slapped it away.

"You might hit Owen instead." he explained.

"Hurry up man! Jump!" Stan encouraged.

It was an excessive message to pass on. Owen had already figured that if he wanted to join their ride, he had to leap over the side of the boat. Once he reached the side of the ship, the boat was already far below him. He agilely swung himself over the railing, causing him to end up among his friends. He landed harder than he had expected and groaned as his knees caught a heavier blow than was desired. A few seconds after him, the soldiers appeared over the railing as well, yet they hadn't been fast enough. Before they got themselves over the fence, they were snatched and drawn out of side. Their voices were quickly smothered and their bones emitted a dreadful noise as they broke under the unnatural, Jurassic force.

A short moment of silence passed by. Perhaps the two Ukrainians that had died just now had been their enemies, that didn't make their death less terrifying.

"That was a close one." Ian said eventually breaking the silence.

He patted Owen on the shoulder and the ranger made a confirming sound in between his puffing.

"I see… you brought… a friend." he joked, pointing at Ivan, who was tied up with an ridiculous amount of rope.

"Yea, well. He did save me once. It would've been rude not to return the favour." Ian said.

Ivan mumbled something incomprehensible yet with an unmistakeable taste of hostility in it. Owen wanted to answer, but he was interrupted by a metallic creaking noise.

"What is that?!" someone called.

The giant crane lifted a strange steel thing high above the deck of the ship. Ian recognized it as one of the transports. This wasn't good. This thought strengthened once he distinguished Pavel among the crew that manned it.

"We have to go. Fast!"

Ian made his way towards the control panel and urged the helmsman to maximize their speed. He estimated how long they had before Pavel's pursuit vessel would have been lowered into the water. He didn't like what he came up with, but knew better than to share this bad news already. There was still the hope that it would be blown to bits by the frigate, even though it grew thinner by the second.

.

"Make sure you get to them as fast as possible. The closer we are to them, the less likely the marine will blow our guts in the air with their artillery. Got that?"

The crane began to lower the craft on the leeward side of the canon range to avoid them being a sitting duck for the frigate. Meanwhile, Pavel advised his captain. Once the addressed man confirmed this information, he went back to basking in the foresight of his plan.

Soon he would have his revenge. The idea of being able to dispatch of those annoying pests pleased him. Most of all, Ian Malcolm. The man's black outfit and gloating stance had been a dead giveaway of his presence on the last lifeboat, even from afar.

Pavel drew a grin. How he would enjoy shooting that man. But as much as he wanted to pull the trigger himself, he was aware of the situation and was realistic enough to acknowledge he might not be given that luxury.

Without warning, a massive explosion aboard The Russian Jewel undid the crane of its foothold and the assault raft fell the last distance onto the water. Luckily, it was made to take a punch and it stayed intact. This could not be said for the container ship. As a catastrophic result of the loss of balance, the huge metal tower tipped over and fell onto the bridge hut, making it explode in the process. The soldiers watched in awe as they knew Spartak, their commander, was up there.

Pavel on the other hand wasn't having any of it.

"What are you guys staring at. Get a move on!"

"But sir. What about-.."

"Sad as it is, we can't do anything for commander Spartak anymore." he preached with a sorrowful voice. "The only way to we can honour him is to avenge his death. And for that we need to get after those escapees! Agreed?!"

The men cheered in unison. Pavel grinned satisfied. His speech was a nice piece of theatre. He didn't care the least about Spartak being killed. That man had only been here for the money anyway. All the businessman was truly interested in, was payback. And sooner rather than later, he would be raining down hell on those meddling InGen dogs. He could hardly wait, and his smirk became even wider.

.

On the other side of The Russian Jewel, the escapees were also spooked by the explosion. Once the crane crashed into the bridge hut, everyone figured it was over. Pavel's entire lead crew had been there and it was unlikely anyone had survived. Moreover, the crane had held Pavel´s last means of pursuit, which surely had perished in that fall too. At least so they thought for a few minutes.

It wasn't until the rattling craft appeared around the bow of the container ship that the men realized they weren't safe yet. At their current speed, Pavel and his men would be able to intercept them before the Cathalina could present any backup. They had to think of something to slow _them _down or accelerate _themselves. _

"Is there deadweight we can toss overboard?" Owen asked.

The rest looked around, although Ian had already thought of this for worst case scenarios. He shook his head, indicating they needed an alternative.

"Maybe we leave something to entangle in their engine?"

"Such as?" Ian replied sceptical.

"Do you have a better idea?!" Owen bit back.

"Gentlemen, arguing brings us nowhere." Arie soothed.

"They're closing in!" someone shouted.

All faces anxiously gazed at the speeding craft in the distance. It was catching up at a steady pace. The few guns they had were no match for the amount of firearms their foe possessed.

"Can't the Navy shoot them?" another wondered.

"No, their boat is too agile. It won't work." he was answered.

But the danger was coming from more than one side. All of the crew were so occupied with their pursuers that they failed to notice that Ivan had been silently cutting the rope on a protruding screw. Before anyone realized he had freed himself, Ivan leaped onto the steersman, causing the lifeboat to suddenly change its course.

Although surprised, the men quickly regained their footing and tried to subdue the attacker. This was hard since Ivan's combat training and experience exceeded theirs.

Pavel witnesses the scene at a distance. He snorted displeased. His plan to just open fire at the lifeboat was now done for. He may have been able to talk his men into abandoning Spartak, he could hardly convince them to fire at one of their own. Again Ivan had ruined his plans. He had a good mind to kill his former friend along with the rest that had been such a pain to him these past few days.

Ivan had meanwhile been driven into a corner. He defended himself with a knife he had won from the helmsman. Then, something happened none had foreseen.

An unexpected collision with a massive body in the water made the boat sway hard to the left. As a result, Ivan had to correct his foothold, but this was prevent by the slightly upstanding edge of the boat. He tumbled over and plunged head first into the sea.

"Oh my god." Ian exclaimed.

As they were still moving at considerable velocity, Ivan was quickly a few metres behind them. When he came back to the surface, he too realized in what a dreadful position he had ended up. His instincts told him to swim as fast as he could. He had to follow up on the life raft. Even though he would likely have been better off going for his fellow soldiers, it became clear that it had not mattered what choice he had made. He didn't even know what was happening until the gaping jaws of the Mosasaurus locked themselves around the relatively tiny man and left a pool of blood in the previously clear blue sea.

_End of chapter._


	19. Eighteen

**Chapter 18 **

"We need to shut down the engine!"

"Are you mad Owen?" Stan answered.

At first, the rest of the InGen'ers had their eyes glued to the dramatic death scene of their former captive and the sad dark cloud this had left in its wake. Now that Owen had made this suggestion however, each turned their head to give him their most flabbergasted facial expression.

"No. I think engine noise attracts the Mosasaurus. That's why last time our pursuers got attacked and we weren't. We were rowing!"

"Noise? This thing hardly makes any sound at all!" a woman criticized, pointing at the motor.

"Yet underwater, the propeller speaks volumes." Arie replied with a grin.

He was stared at in awe and his face turned neutral again.

"Sorry, a little joke there." he apologized. "Still, Owen is making a valid point."

"If we stop the engine, they'll catch us." she continued.

"They'll get us either way. I say any plan is better than no plan at all." Ian preached.

"I disagree, we should keep up this speed and perhaps if we get close enough to the frigate, it'll discourage them." a man backed her up.

Others supported the man's notion. It did seem like the most reasonable plan. Shutting down and waiting was like giving up.

"Just listen to me, if we..."

From underneath them a terrifying deep sound echoed. The mosasaur's sonorous growl was close. Closer than anyone felt comfortable with. Immediately, a couple of the men frantically begun pressing buttons on the control panel to as yet execute Owen's plan. Stan gave his friend an amused smile to which Owen sighed in return.

The sudden silence that followed made everyone even more nervous. They waited for any sign of the enormous monster that lurked beneath them. Instead a whizzing sound presented itself. Pavel and his gang had gotten into range and had wasted not a second before opening fire. Everyone sought cover behind seats or the iron sides, though for some it had already been too late. Owen swore under his breath. Moreover because the mercenaries had turned off their engine too.

He had to do something. But they had no reason to come any closer. Unless…

"Pssh, Malcolm!"

The mathematician crawled towards him.

"What was that guy's name again? The rich wannabe with the tacky suit."

Ian grinned at the description of the puffy Russian.

"Pavel Jacobson" he said with a ridiculous gentleman's accent to imply that he found Owen's delineation accurate. "Why?"

Owen placed formed a cone with his hands to amplify his voice.

"HEY PAVEL! YOU COWARD, CAN'T YOU LOOK A MAN IN THE EYES WHEN YOU KILL HIM?"

The machine gun ceased its rattling and someone called back. His interlocutor was talking way too soft, yet Owen distinguished the words 'what' and 'saying', thus he repeated himself.

"I SAID, IF YOU'RE TRULY MAN ENOUGH TO KILL ME, COME OVER HERE AND LOOK ME IN THE EYE WHEN YOU PULL THE TRIGGER!"

It was quiet for a moment, but then Owen received the answer he wanted.

"I'll … and blow … BLOODY BRAIN OUT!"

Owen laughed as he heard them reignite their engine. He had successfully exploited his opponent's boastful nature. Now all he had to wait for, is the marine reptile to do its part.

"Come on. I know you hate the sound of that thing."

"Who are you talking to?" Ian questioned.

Owen looked up disturbed. If the mathematician hadn't said anything, he had probably never noted that he had been thinking out loud. His friend looked genuinely curious. On the other hand, it was not that the man hadn't pulled of this look before.

"I was just encouraging the Mosasaurus. Last time he ignored us and went for the boat with the engine. My plan relies on him doing so again."

"Then let's hope he does or we're in serious trouble."

Owen stared at him for a few seconds in surprise. No irritating remark? No distasteful comment? Apparently even Malcolm possessed the ability to be serious when he had to.

"Well, here I am you slimy cockroach!" Pavel taunted.

In the background, their motorized raft still thudded on its standard rhythm. Owen bit his lip. They had gotten here too soon. He had to buy more time.

He rose to his feet. His foes were five metres away from him. Pavel stood at the bow of their vessel with his pistol aimed for the man he sought to kill. Owen's mind twisted and turned. How to postpone the lethal outcome of this?

"You're going to use a gun? Why don't you come over here and we'll settle this with our fists?"

Pavel laughed scornfully.

"You take me for a fool? Giving up an advantage like this?"

"I don't know what to take you for."

"Well…" the Russian drew back the safety of his gun. "You won't have to ponder for too long."

In the corner of his eye, Owen detected a dark shape. It was headed straight for the boat opposite him. Just a few more seconds, that's all he needed. But how. How to stretch the conversation with this self-centred piece of… That was it!

"Yes, I believe you are right."

"What?" Pavel let out astonished.

"You are clever enough to keep your advantage and man enough to look me in the eye. I should not have doubted you. If only I had understood your superior tactics before."

Jacobson's head started to process this new turn of events. He carefully scanned the rest of the cowering wretches in front of him. The way this ranger spoke, he was buying time. Why? None of them seemed capable of doing anything. They were too close for the Navy's frigate to fire a round and too far for their snipers to take a shot. Still. There was something he was missing and he wasn't satisfied by not knowing what it was, yet he was not going to sit around and wait for it to happen.

"I don't know what you're trying to achieve here, but you're not getting anything more than a bullet."

The Mosasaurus leaped from the deep blue and rose before them like a tower. The explosion of water and the swaying of the boat made Pavel unable to aim properly and he missed Owen completely. His men were paralyzed by the sight of this enormous being. Pavel manically slapped the men around him as he made his way to the rear, hoping to be able to sacrifice his soldiers.

"SHOOT IT, YOU MORONS! SHOOT IT!" he cried out hysterically.

Machine guns rattled, magazines were emptied, curses were cast, gods were called upon, none of it stopped the giant reptile from crashing down on the transport raft, obliterating it with its jaws. When the water settled, there was nothing left apart from a few piece of lightweight junk. After a few seconds, Owen spurred his colleagues into rowing.

"We'd better start rowing. I have no intention in finding out whether it was truly the noise that triggered the Mosasaur!"

As they distanced themselves from the floating debris, one man surfaced. Gasping for air, he clung to a buoy that floated nearby. In between breathing, he mumbled in Russian. Not even the cold water could cool his anger. He was infuriated by the sight of his sworn enemies sailing away unharmed. He had them where he wanted, at gunpoint, though he had waited too long. Still. He may not have pulled the trigger this time, the next time they would not be so lucky. Because he had survived.

"That's right, Pavel Jacobson is still alive!"

Owen heard a faint shout and turned around. Through his binoculars he observed the rubble. Was that Pavel he saw there? The man raised his arm, yet before he could scream anything else he was violently pulled underwater. Owen sniggered. Some people simply deserve to be eaten.

"What's so funny?" Stan asked.

"Oh nothing…" he said, putting down the binoculars, "nothing important."

.

Back at Isla Nublar, the survivors were lovingly greeted by their families who awaited them at the docks. Even Arie's wife had been flown in to see his safe return. He thanked Alan and Ian for helping him through these terrible events and wished them the best. When the frigate had made port and its passengers had set foot on land, most of the husbands, wives and parents had immediately covered their loved ones with kisses and hugs.

After a while, Alan, Ian and Owen were the only ones left on the docks. They watched the families, friends and colleagues enter the visitor centre where the survivers all received fresh clothing and the most luxurious food.

Ian shook his head.

"Ridiculous. Celebrating our survival this excessive. As if nobody else died."

"Spared no expense." Alan said dryly.

His friend snorted depreciatingly.

"That is exactly right." a woman, dressed in white spoke.

"So, how did I do on my first assignment?" Owen joked.

"I'm not sure this is the time to discuss that?"

Owen shrugged. Clearly, her sense of humour had yet to develop.

"I'm sorry and who are you?" Alan asked.

"Miss Dearing, I'm currently the operations manager of the new Jurassic Park."

"So we can send you your first complaints?" Ian added.

She gazed at him astounded. Was this man serious? He had just been in a life-threatening situation for a couple of days and all he wants is to file a complaint?

"Yes, I'm the person where you can do that, but I thought you'd be more interested in -.."

"Trust me Claire, the only thing you can interest them in is the fastest way home."

Alan and Ian both nodded confirmatory. Claire's face become a little reddish.

"First of all, you're not in charge here. Secondly, that was just what I was about to offer, mister Grady." she said annoyed.

Owen made an apologetic gesture after which she told the two academics that a chopper to the mainland was awaiting them.

"I assume this is where we say goodby, Owen."

"Yea, I reckon it is."

They shook hands politely.

"If you ever have any dinosaur question, don't hesitate to call. Just don't expect me to come over here to answer them."

Owen grinned and garanteed him to honour that promise. Alan was then quick to join Claire for his ride home. He wanted to get as far away as possible as soon as possible, although he had a bad feeling that no matter how far he ran, this island would still find a way to bring him back.

Ian and Owen watched the two walk away.

"Nice example of feminism."

"Yea."

"Looking good though. If I were you, I'd be filing a lot of complaints."

Owen laughed.

"I'll be sure to remember that."

They shook hands firmly.

"Hey Malcolm! You coming or what?" Alan called.

Ian jogged to catch up with his travel companion. Now Owen was left behind alone. He still smiled from Ian's last remark. If that man wasn't against you, he sure was one hell of a clown with his witty phrases.

"Hey Owen."

A man with a sand-coloured shirt and black pants headed straight for him. His confident stature was a little too much, as was his paunch.

"Nice work bringing everyone back."

"Thanks Hoskins."

The guy rubbed his grey, circle beard and checked whether nobody else was around to listen to the topic he wanted to address.

"Look, I'll cut right to the chase. I heard you did some fancy stunts with velociraptors out there. Is that true?"

Owen paused for a moment and then nodded.

"And you were able to make contact with them? You know, like actual communication?"

"I believe we had some form of connection yes."

Hoskins laughed impressed. This news made him very happy and he swung his arm around Owen.

"Oh man, that's absolutely fantastic."

"Why?"

"Because we happen to be starting a new project soon, and from what I've heard, you're the perfect guy for the job."

_End of storyline. _

* * *

_**Hey all,**_

_**Thanks for following my story. I hope I managed to entertain you up until the end of my last chapter. I just love the Jurassic Park franchise. Some people might say that all of the sequels are too much alike, but I don't really mind. I just like dinosaurs a lot and I think the movies are awesome and I've had great fun writing this story. Anyways, please share your opinion in a review or PM if you haven't already and special thanks for those that favorited and commented this story. **_

_**Kind Regards, **_

_**J. Caesar**_


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